Chandigarh : Perhaps for the first time in the country, an all women housing society will start construction of its colony on International Women’s Day.

All the 48 flats of Parvati Durga Group Housing Society Ltd, promoted by Haryana Urban Development Authority in Panchkula, would be owned by women alone. “The idea behind this society is to empower women, who are mostly denied their due share in property,” Archna Sanghi, president of the group housing society, told TOI on Saturday. Overseeing a thriving property business along with her husband for a decade now, she added that even the architect of the colony “is a lady”. “We wanted the flats designed in a way that all the needs of women are taken care of.”

 

The society boasts of members who are lawyers, doctors, architects, academicians, administrators and other professionals. “This is something really great,” claimed Neelam Mansingh Chowdhary, theatre personality. “Although such efforts are more tokenisms and do not project the real picture, the idea of women ‘owning a roof’ over their head is certainly a step towards empowerment.”

 

Thrilled to bits by the very idea of “all girl” project, homemaker Meenra Khanna added, “It is a great concept, especially in a society where women are denied equal rights most of the time.” Expressing similar sentiments, businessman Harish Negi claimed, “It is of course a good idea. Nonetheless, such efforts can only help if people actually provide equality to women in the society.”