AMC to provide affordable housing to slum dwellers

Agartala: The Agartala Municipal Council (AMC) has taken an onerous task of making the city free of slums by providing affordable housing for the dwellers with the help from the Centre.

"The Central government has approved our plan of making Agartala a slum free city and agreed to sanction funds under the Rajiv Gandhi Yojana Scheme," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AMC, Milind Ramteke said. A survey conducted by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) last year found that there are 94 slums in the city where 13,200 families dwell. "It is not an easy task and would take about 10 years to complete it. We have prepared Detailed Project Report (DPR) of four slums initially at an estimate cost is Rs 87.44 crores and hope that it would be sanctioned soon," he said. Under the Scheme, the slum dwellers would be given property rights, shelter, civic amenities and guidance by the Municipal Council. The Scheme has been designed on the basis of experience of the Jawaharlal Neheru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for providing basic services to the urban poor. 50 percent of the cost of slum re-development scheme would be borne by the central government and the rest by the AMC and the beneficiaries. The scheme is expected to be launched in 250 cities of the countries which have an estimated 32.10 million people living in slums, Ramteke said. PTI