A dharna by employees of the Kerala State Housing Board belonging to unions affiliated to various political parties early this week in the State capital once again highlights the problems in an institution established to provide a direction to, and coordinate, housing schemes in the State.

The employees have been demanding immediate government intervention to revive the board. They have been calling for a quick and lasting solution to the problems into which the board has stumbled over the years, which they say is largely because of its inability to raise working capital and thereby launch new projects.

A spokesman of one of the employees unions told The Hindu that the current travails of the board could be traced quickly to the refusal of the State government to stand guarantee for it to raise loans for new projects.

He said the board had been unable to raise money through loans since 2001. The government’s inability to act decisively and the neglect of the board in successive State budgets had played big roles in the sending the board to such a state.

The union leader recalled that the most glaring example of government neglect was the failure to act on the Composite Action Programme, submitted in 2006, for the revival of the board. The plan was submitted by an action council of employees unions, envisaging the building of a new future for the board based on its expertise and its assets.

Though some hopes were raised in the State Budget for 2008-09 which provided a Rs.255-crore loan and proposed a comprehensive revival plan of Rs.2,060 crore, nothing much has come of the promise.

The employees unions have, in the meanwhile, have rejected the recommendations of the Working Group on Restructuring of the Board. The working group suggested, among several things, that the board concentrate on consultancy, contract and deposit works. The report has created a sense of anxiety among the employees, said a spokesman of the Kerala State Housing Board Employees Association.

The employees have demanded now that besides standing guarantee for loans, the government should pay what is due to the board under various heads. These payments include Rs.136 crore under the Maithri housing scheme subsidy; Rs. 14 crore in rent arrears; and Rs.14 crore owed by the Department of Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities.

Another demand raised by the employees is that the board liability with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation be met through a one-time settlement.

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