Indian Bureaucracy News, Lucknow, December 26, 2025| The Uttar Pradesh Awas Evam Vikas Parishad (UPAVP) on Friday approved a set of financial and project-related decisions, including a dearness allowance hike, land pooling for housing development, and asset monetisation measures, at the 274th meeting of its Board of Directors, highlighting the agency’s focus on liquidity management, project execution and inventory disposal.
The meeting was chaired by Shri P Guru Prasad, Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Awas Evam Vikas Parishad (UPAVP) and Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Planning Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. A 1999-batch IAS officer, he assumed charge of the housing and urban planning portfolio in September 2025 following his transfer from the Revenue Department, and currently oversees urban development–related policy and administrative functions linked to the Parishad’s mandate.
Among the key financial decisions, the Board approved Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief at 58 per cent, effective July 1, 2025, for UPAVP employees, pensioners and family pensioners. The move aligns the Parishad’s compensation structure with prevailing government rates and is expected to increase its recurring salary and pension expenditure.
The Board also cleared the initiation of the statutory process to permit institutional land use for the construction of an OCR Complex for the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The proposal relates to Group Housing Plots GH-05/01 and GH-05/02 in Sector-05 of the Majhola Housing Scheme No. 04 (Part-02), Moradabad, and will proceed through public consultation. The project is expected to involve capital expenditure by the Union government.
To address housing demand in Kanpur, the Board approved a proposal under the Land Pooling Scheme for the Mandhana Land Development and Housing Scheme No. 04, Kanpur Nagar. The model allows landowners to pool land for development in exchange for a share of developed plots, lowering acquisition costs and improving project viability for the agency.
The Board also approved enhanced incentives under the First Come, First Serve housing scheme for Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forces personnel. Buyers completing full payment within 60 days will receive a 20 per cent discount, those paying within 61–90 days a 15 per cent discount, and those paying within 91–120 days a 10 per cent discount, a measure aimed at faster liquidation of housing inventory and improved cash flows.
Several other administrative proposals were approved at the meeting, which was attended by the Housing Commissioner, Additional Housing Commissioner and Secretary, senior finance and engineering officials, and representatives of the Lucknow Development Authority and the Urban Development Department.
Explainer | UPAVP: Finances and Land Monetisation Model
Established in 1966, the Uttar Pradesh Awas Evam Vikas Parishad is one of India’s largest state housing agencies, operating across most urban centres of Uttar Pradesh. UPAVP follows a largely self-financing model, funding projects through land development, housing sales, cross-subsidisation across income segments, and monetisation of commercial and institutional assets. Over the decades, it has built a substantial urban land bank and delivered housing across EWS, LIG, MIG and HIG categories. In recent years, the agency has increasingly relied on leasing of non-core assets, land pooling mechanisms, and accelerated inventory disposal to strengthen cash flows and limit fiscal dependence, aligning its operations with broader state urban development and housing policy objectives.