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TN to build 1,777 slum tenements

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The New Indian Express                     04.04.2013

TN to build 1,777 slum tenements

Currently, a socio-economic survey of slums in 10 towns, including Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli, is in progress | D Sampath Kumar
Currently, a socio-economic survey of slums in 10 towns, including Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli, is in progress | D Sampath Kumar

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board will be constructing 1,777 tenements at a cost of Rs 134.36 crore in Athipattu in Chennai and Karikalan Colony in Tiruchy in the initial phase of the Rajiv Awas Yojana’s Slum Free Cities programme this year.

The tenements are a part of an ambitious scheme to build one lakh tenements at a cost of Rs 7,500 crore from 2012-13 to 2016-17. Sources told City Express that the 1,777 tenements will be built in two phases in Athipattu. The initial phase will see 1,056 tenements built at a cost of Rs 84.92 crore and while 416 tenements will be built at a cost of Rs 32.33 crore in the second phase. In Tiruchy’s Karikalan Colony, 305 tenements worth Rs 17.21 crore will be built.

The scheme will have 50 per cent contribution from the Union government, 40 per cent from the State government and 10 per cent from the beneficiaries.

Currently, a socio-economic survey of slums in 10 towns, namely Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchy, Salem, Vellore, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Erode, Tirupur and Thoothukudi, is in progress and will be completed soon.

Once the survey is completed a slum-free city action plan for each city will be prepared and sent to the Union government. After the sanction is obtained from the Union government, the programme to construct one lakh tenements in urban areas will commence.

According to State government estimates about 13.96 lakh families (59 lakh people) are living in urban slums in Tamil Nadu. A report of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation estimates the slum population in Tamil Nadu at 86.44 lakh in 2011.

The preparation of a slum-free city plan will broadly involve slum redevelopment or rehabilitation plans based on a survey of all notified and non-notified slums, mapping of slums using state-of-the-art technology, integration of geo-spatial and socio-economic data and identification of a development model for each slum, according to the Rajiv Awas Yojana Guidelines for Slum-free City Planning.

After the AIADMK government came to power, TNSCB has completed the construction of 22,700 tenements and spent Rs 540 crore on its capital programmes. Sale deeds have been issued to 4,404 families and employment oriented training imparted to 8,345 persons.

The State government is also planning to provide Rs 15 crore from State grants to improve basic amenities like roads, streetlights and drinking water facilities for slums this year in various towns of Tamil Nadu to improve living conditions in urban slums and make them habitable.