An Explainer: General Pool Residential Accommodation    

Authorities across the world develop housing for the employees working for them. These units are known as General Pool Residential Accommodations (GPRAs). Generally developed in the prime areas of a city, these accommodations are quite high in terms of value. However, they are provided to government staff free of cost as part of their job incentive. In most cases, but for water and electricity bills, employees do not have to pay anything once they are allotted a unit. 

In India where government jobs are preferred over private ones, employees have to go through long wait before a unit is allotted to them owing to housing shortage. On the other hand, the condition of GPRAs is quite poor and many of them have not seen any upgrade since their inception. The dilapidated state of government accommodations in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai show these units are clamouring for urgent attention.    

According to media reports, the Union Urban Development Ministry is planning to better its GPRAs by replacing the current 12,970 units with redeveloped 25,667 dwelling units. Initiatives such as these will help authorities provide better housing to its staff apart from boosting the general health of the city and its inhabitants.