`2,797.28 crore set aside to achieve slum free Mysuru

Centre intends to spend more to build dwelling units in 10 years

If all goes according to plans, by the year 2022, the city will be slum free with the Central government intending to spend a whopping Rs 2,797.28 crore under Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

For now, under the pilot project, 2,800 dwelling units will be constructed covering 14 slums under the three Assembly constituencies- Krishnaraja, Chamaraja and Narasimharaja, in the city.

Presenting his observations during the stakeholder workshop here on Tuesday, organised by the Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES), Osmania University, Hyderabad, sponsored by the Union Ministry of Urban Development, State Coordinator of RAY, M Balakrishna Prasad said that this was a 10 year rolling project (2013 to 2022).

So far, time was spent on preparing the Slum Free City Plan of Action (SFCPoA), a must for approving the detailed project reports in the future too, he said.

Unlike other States, Karnataka has been granted with highest of 42 projects covering 10 cities (in the State), including Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) limits.

While the action plan for eight cities have been approved, the same is underway in Mysuru and Bengaluru, said Prasad.

Review
He said that the project can be reviewed once in every two years by including new slums under the same.

At present, at the pilot level, it was proposed to build 2,800 dwelling units covering 14 slums under the programme at an estimated cost of Rs 14,524.93 lakh. Another 670 houses under KR and Chamaraja constituencies await approval.

Prasad however advised the departments concerned to be accurate in notifying the newly identified slums and denotifying the already developed slums, to reduce the burden on the existing resources.

MCC Commissioner C G Betsurmath said that the said amount will be spent on not just building the houses, but also on providing basic amenities like road, water, power supply and other facilities.

Giving the scenario of slums in the city, Betsurmath said that a total of 172 slums with 53,979 households were identified in the city during the survey conducted by the RCUES.

Among the total slums, 53 are notified, 55 slums are 50-years-old, and 78 slums are spread on four hectares area.

A total of 18 per cent of the slums are located alongside railway tracks and transport alignments.

Project Head, RCUES, Rama Rao M said that the study was conducted on the basis of various facilities in the slums like - housing, water supply, sanitation, electricity, health, road, education and community health centers.