LUCKNOW, July 10 -- The UP Housing and Development Board (UP Awas Vikas Parishad) on Thursday approved 19 proposals during its 276th Board of Directors meeting, clearing major decisions ranging from a private township in Hathras and employee benefits to resolving a long-pending road dispute in Lucknow and initiating action in cases involving financial irregularities. The meeting, chaired by principal secretary (housing and urban planning) P. Guru Prasad, considered 26 proposals. Of these, two proposals remained pending as the matters are sub judice, three proposals were returned for revision, while two proposals carried forward from the previous Board meeting were also taken up. In all, 19 proposals received the Board's approval, said secretary Neeraj Shukla. He revealed that among the most significant decisions, the Board approved proceedings under Section 28 of the Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Council Act, 1965, for development of a 51.04-acre integrated residential township in Hathras by Omaxe Limited under the UP Township Policy-2023. Officials said the developer has already acquired more than 75% of the required land, making the project eligible for notification under the Act. Once notified, the Housing Board will regulate layout approvals and development activities in the township. The Board approved a proposal to resolve the long-pending dispute over the 45-metre-wide road in Lucknow's Awadh Vihar Scheme, where construction has remained stalled due to a property dispute. A 2,000-sq-m plot falls in the middle of the proposed road alignment, blocking the project for years. Following directions from the court, the Board will now explore options including land pooling, land acquisition or other legally permissible mechanisms to remove the obstacle and complete the road, improving connectivity within the scheme. The Board also gave nod to hotel-use regulations for Housing Board properties under the Zoning Regulations-2025 to facilitate tourism-related development. It further permitted execution of common utility works in the Board's land development, homestead and market schemes in Ayodhya in compliance with directions issued by the Allahabad high court. On the employee welfare front, the Board approved a 60% dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for employees, pensioners and family pensioners with effect from January 1, 2026. It also approved an increase in the conveyance allowance for Class IV employees and relaxed the mandatory two-year non-field posting requirement for promotion from executive engineer to superintending engineer. The meeting focused on financial accountability. The Board endorsed recovery of losses from retired officials in cases involving irregularities in property disposal under Vrindavan Yojana, Lucknow, approved action against retired property manager KD Sharma and retired junior assistant Ram Naresh Pal and initiated proceedings against a retired junior engineer in connection with alleged irregularities in advance payments for a Moradabad project. The Board also approved civil recovery of Rs 65.82 lakh from engineers linked to incomplete works under the Kanshi Ram Urban Poor Housing Scheme (Phase III) in Jaunpur, where departmental proceedings could not be initiated due to the age of the cases. It also approved a policy to recover financial losses from retired officers through civil liability where disciplinary proceedings are no longer legally permissible. Neeraj Shukla added that the long-delayed Saumitra Vihar scheme has been submitted to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for approval. If the necessary approvals are granted in the coming days, the scheme is expected to be launched by August this year....