CREDAI seeks policy reforms for housing in state budget
Times of India | 3 June 2026
Kolkata: In a pre-budget meeting with state additional chief secretary Prabhat Mishra and his team, CREDAI West Bengal president Sushil Mohta and CREDAI Kolkata president Apurva Salarpuria submitted targeted suggestions to unlock land, speed up planned urbanisation, and improve housing affordability across Bengal. They said structural bottlenecks are preventing large, integrated developments and that policy certainty is needed to attract long-term private and foreign investment.
A key recommendation was easing land ceiling limits to make larger contiguous parcels available for gated communities, mini townships and mixed-use projects with lifestyle amenities and sizable commercial and retail components. CREDAI said rationalised ceilings would enable townships, large housing projects, commercial and industrial hubs, and IT parks at scale.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya had earlier said the govt was looking at scrapping the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act 1976.
Mohta and Salarpuria sought a comprehensive township and land policy like those of Maharashtra, Delhi, MP, and Gujarat and also proposed scaling in-situ redevelopment and slum rehabilitation via PPPs, backed by TDR, enhanced FAR/FSI, free-sale components, cross-subsidy, fast-track approvals, and selective fee exemptions, aiming for a slum-free Kolkata.
The duo also flagged issues around ‘barga' entries, saying it has been incorrectly recorded on lands where cultivation has not occurred for years and records have not been updated. On valuation and IGR, CREDAI sought rationalisation of the 80:20 residential-commercial approach and a shift from "karkhana to bastu" to "bastu to bastu" basis, with moderated multipliers on karkhana properties.