New Delhi: After years of delay, Delhi government has decided to start allocation of around 10,000 low-cost flats to slum dwellers from next month in keeping with its plan to make the national capital slum-free.
The government will allocate 500 flats to slum dwellers in June and the allocation would continue thereafter, Urban Development Minister AK Walia said.
The decision to start the allocation process was taken at a meeting presided by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who instructed the Urban Development department to expedite distribution of the flats.
The Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) has already completed construction of 9,660 flats in Narela, Dwarka and Bhorgarh under JNNURM scheme and another 5,184 flats are likely to be completed very soon.
There are 685 slum clusters in the city, out of which 352 have come up on land owned by DDA while 333 slums have come up on land owned by Delhi government, Railways, CPWD, NDMC, MCD, Cantonment Board and CPWD.
Walia said Delhi government will ask DDA to remove the slums from their land and provide the residents housing while it will take care of relocation of the rest of the slum clusters.
Officials said identification of beneficiaries for first phase of allocation is underway. The slum dwellers from SC community will get the flats free as Delhi government has already decided to waive the fee of Rs 60,000 for them.
They said people who have settled in a slum or a jhughi- jhopri cluster not later than March 31, 2007, will be eligible to get allotment of the low-cost houses.
As part of its ambitious plan to make Delhi slum-free, the government has decided to construct 72,000 low-cost flats in the next two years for allotment to slum dwellers.
Top officials involved in the mega housing project said the ground work for construction of the low-cost flats has already been started and agencies involved in it have been told to expedite the process. The DSIIDC will implement the project.
In her annual address to top officials earlier this year, Dikshit had identified providing a roof to slum-dwellers as one of the three major priority areas for her Government for the coming financial year.
Officials said the government would make available hospitals, schools, shopping complexes and bus services in the areas where low-cost flats are coming up.
PTI
