Interview Times 
Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB) MD Sagarika Pattnayak agreed on Wednesday that the board’s office in Rourkela would be restored and given certain powers, and that an eight-story building complex with commercial space and residential flats would be built in Basanti Colony soon.
Pattnayak was informed of the difficulties faced by OSHB allottees during an interaction with a delegation of OSHB House Owners’ Association (OSHBHOA) led by its president Bimal Kumar Bisi and secretary Prakash Chandra Padhi here. In addition, the Association urged the MD to announce a new project to meet the city’s growing housing demand.
Pattnayak stated that OSHB has decided to reopen its office in Rourkela in the coming months to provide services such as ownership transfer, issuance of bank loan clearance certificates, and registration of unregistered houses in Chhend Colony in order to save allottees the trouble of travelling to Bhubaneswar. She also informed the delegation that the OSHB intends to construct a multi-story building complex in Basanti Colony with commercial space and residential flats. The land for all of the houses in the complex would be converted to freehold by March 2023, with the Law and Revenue departments working on the details.
Pattnayak also discussed with the ADM and Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) Commissioner Dr Subhankar Mohapatra the possibility of establishing a new housing project in the city. Bisi stated that the Association advised the OSHB MD to ensure allotment of housing units for new projects through a lottery system rather than an auction because there is a risk that a few wealthy individuals would corner all the units. He added that the delegation also suggested that the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) management discuss the establishment of new housing projects on vacant sector areas on the plant premises, with a proposal to reserve 50% of the units for current and retired SAIL employees.
