Shelterless in eight cities to have dormitories soon

The government plans to implement the project by roping in non-government organisations and also seek the assistance of the Special Commissioner to Supreme Court overseeing the implementation of the project nationwide. A meeting with the Commissioner is scheduled in December.

Speaking to reporters at the workshop on ‘Emerging issues in urban governance’ here Law and Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar said the census to identify shelterless people concluded recently.

Location to be identified

A total of 7,600 shelterless people have been identified in the eight City Corporations of whom 3,500 are in Bangalore. The Urban Development Department has written to the deputy commissioners for identifying the locations to construct dormitories, Project Commissioner Anjum Parvez said. As many as 20,260 urban poor have been identified to be eligible for housing loans under Rajiv Awas Yojana.

Suresh Kumar said the government has instituted the Best Corporation award the selection for which would be made on the basis of self-assessment questionnaire. The first award would be announced on December 8.

The urban development policy is likely to come up before the next Cabinet meeting. The principal ingredient of the policy is to curtail land acquisition. Given the mess that government has found itself over notification, the state would prefer industrialists to buy land for their projects directly from land owners.