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Poverty Alleviation


NHRC notice to Chief Secretary on evictions from Ejipura

Tuesday, 12 March 2013 07:19 administrator
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The Hindu                      12.03.2013

NHRC notice to Chief Secretary on evictions from Ejipura

THE AFTERMATH:A child, given food by an NGO, runs to the gigantic pipe that doubles as his home in the wake of the demolition at Ejipura, Bangalore, in January this year.— FILE PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
THE AFTERMATH:A child, given food by an NGO, runs to the gigantic pipe that doubles as his home in the wake of the demolition at Ejipura, Bangalore, in January this year.— FILE PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
 
It takes cognisance of media report on health problems of those ousted.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath on the forced eviction of residents of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) shanty town by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in Ejipura in January this year.

A communiqué received here on Monday said that the NHRC has taken cognisance of a media report, forwarded by non-governmental organisations, alleging serious health problems being faced by about 2,000 people who were evicted.

Report sought

The Chief Secretary has been directed to submit a report within four weeks on the eviction, steps taken to rehabilitate the evicted people, besides informing the commission about the steps taken to provide basic amenities such as food, drinking water, sanitation and health facilities upholding the evictees’ human rights.

The NHRC noted that 200 evicted families have made their temporary homes on the periphery of the area from where they were ousted. “They have not been provided with any basic facilities. Diarrheal diseases, infections and other forms of water and air-borne diseases are rampant. There are no proper water, sanitation and toilet facilities,” it has said.

The commission had taken cognisance of the forced eviction and harassment of victims by police.

A notice was issued to the Chief Secretary and Director-General and Inspector-General of Police early this year and the issue is under consideration.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding report by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka, and Housing and Land Rights Network - Delhi, found that the human rights of the urban poor had been violated. The government and its agencies have breached the Constitution, national laws and policies, orders of the Supreme Court and international law, including the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement.

Illegal land use

The report, a copy of which is with The Hindu , notes that the public-private partnership between the BBMP and Maverick Holdings is illegal because the land that was designated for “public purpose”, namely housing for economically weaker sections, has been converted into commercial use for the gain of a private entity. The BBMP has flouted its own resolution (passed in 2005) recognising the rights of the residents to permanent housing and assured them of in-situ resettlement.

The demands

The fact-finding team has demanded that the government recognise and uphold the “right to the city” of the urban poor — who contribute to the city — as their inalienable right, besides ordering a judicial enquiry into the evictions, demolitions and public-private partnership. The government should also provide immediate and adequate rehabilitation to all the evicted residents, irrespective of whether they are original allottees or tenants. The other demands include compensation to all victims, dissolve the illegal public-private partnership, and take action against BBMP and police officials responsible for the violence and attack on residents and activists.

 

PMC goes for slum-free wards to avail Central funds

Wednesday, 05 September 2012 11:13 administrator
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The Indian Express      05.09.2012

PMC goes for slum-free wards to avail Central funds

With the Union government insisting on innovative methods for slum rehabilitation under its Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) to make the city slum-free, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to implement electoral ward free slum initiative to avail government funding and achieve the set objective.

“The funding would be based on the innovative method adopted for rehabilitation work. Therefore, it was necessary to start work with a different approach and the PMC decided to take up the pilot project of slum-free wards,” said Poonam Mehta, livelihood development specialist appointed by the PMC.

Based on the success of the project, the PMC would prepare a plan for the entire city under the scheme, she said. “The problems in each electoral wards are different and slum situation differs in all the wards. Therefore, the plans would be slum specific. Slumdwellers will not be relocated at a long distance from their existing place.”

The project will be implemented by the local civic body but the work in the city has been entrusted to the slum rehabilitation authority (SRA), she said. “A lot of time has been wasted on getting the state government’s approval for allowing SRA to take up the work on behalf of the PMC,” she said.

The execution of pilot project has begun and SRA has started talking to the slumdwellers about the advantages of the project, Mehta said.

Meanwhile, a detail survey of the socio-economic status of each slum in each of the electoral ward has been conducted and the planning for the entire city has begun. Deputy Municipal Commissioner B T More said the PMC is implementing the pilot project in Dhankawadi electoral ward that has five slums.

With the Union government insisting on innovative methods for slum rehabilitation under its Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) to make the city slum-free, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to implement electoral ward free slum initiative to avail government funding and achieve the set objective.

“The funding would be based on the innovative method adopted for rehabilitation work. Therefore, it was necessary to start work with a different approach and the PMC decided to take up the pilot project of slum-free wards,” said Poonam Mehta, livelihood development specialist appointed by the PMC.

Based on the success of the project, the PMC would prepare a plan for the entire city under the scheme, she said. “The problems in each electoral wards are different and slum situation differs in all the wards. Therefore, the plans would be slum specific. Slumdwellers will not be relocated at a long distance from their existing place.”

The project will be implemented by the local civic body but the work in the city has been entrusted to the slum rehabilitation authority (SRA), she said. “A lot of time has been wasted on getting the state government’s approval for allowing SRA to take up the work on behalf of the PMC,” she said.

The execution of pilot project has begun and SRA has started talking to the slumdwellers about the advantages of the project, Mehta said.

Meanwhile, a detail survey of the socio-economic status of each slum in each of the electoral ward has been conducted and the planning for the entire city has begun. Deputy Municipal Commissioner B T More said the PMC is implementing the pilot project in Dhankawadi electoral ward that has five slums.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 September 2012 11:15
 

Indore slums have more than doubled in 3 years

Tuesday, 04 September 2012 06:29 administrator
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The Times of India  04.09.2012

Indore slums have more than doubled in 3 years

GUWAHATI: The number of slums in the city have increased over the past few years, raising serious doubts over the plans of the civic authorities to deal with the problem. A recent survey carried out by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) on slums in the city revealed that in the past three years, the total number of slums in localities under the jurisdiction of the GMC has gone up to 217 from about 90.

As per the previous study on slums and slum dwellers conducted by the GMC in 2009, there were barely 90 slums in Guwahati then. The number of slum dwellers in the city in 2009 was 27,000; in 2012, their population has gone up to 1,39,292.

Significantly, 38 per cent of the slums have been constructed on private land. This can pose a problem for the civic body while implementing new schemes for slum dwellers since apartments to be constructed by the GMC for these people under the Centre's Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) are not permitted to be constructed on private land.

"Most of the slums have come up on private land according to the latest survey carried out by the GMC. We will organise a community participation programme among such people and convince them to vacate the slums and avail the apartments to be built under RAY," said additional commissioner of GMC Mukul Gogoi.

According to the survey, about 34 per cent of the slums have been built on land belonging to state government, while 18 per cent and 7 per cent lie on railway land and public local body land (GMC land) respectively. Two per cent slums have been erected on defence land and other lands, while the ownership of remaining one per slum land is yet to be known. Most of the slums have been found near Dhirenpara area, Inter State Bus Terminal and Fatasil Ambari.

Gogoi added that many land owners are earning good amounts of money as rent from slum dwellers, who will be accommodated in apartments to be built under the RAY scheme.

The GMC has already received Rs 36 lakh from the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA) for execution of RAY, a mega scheme for the homeless.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 04 September 2012 06:31
 

Urban march apace in Kozhikode

Saturday, 25 August 2012 05:19 administrator
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The Hindu     25.08.2012

Urban march apace in Kozhikode

KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL

More and more places outside the city are taking on an urban character.

It is an inexorable march. Urbanisation is sweeping through more and more places, and Kozhikode is no exception to the global trend. A detailed chart prepared by the Town Planning Office shows that urbanisation is expected to spread rapidly to the north-eastern parts of the district by 2021.

Visuals prepared by the department reveal that urban growth will increasingly graduate from the coastal parts, covering the Kozhikode Corporation area, to places such as Chathamangalam, Mukkam and Mavoor in the decade that started in 2011.

The areas marked as “Expected Local Bodies 2021” in a chart prepared by Town Planner G. Sasikumar show urbanisation spreading through Ramanattukara, Cheruvannur, Perambra, Koothali, Balussery, Chelanoor, Kizhakoth, Koduvally, Chemancheri, Azhiyam, Eramala, Omassery, Payyoli, Onchiyam and Koyilandy.

The statistics show that the percentage of the urban population has increased from 38.25 per cent to 67.15 per cent in the past decade. The chart says that while only 19 areas have shown urban characteristics in 2001, the number rose to 52 in the 2011 Census. But the “total population” has increased only to 30.9 lakh from 28.8 lakh in the decade, it shows.

Job scene

Mr. Sasikumar says a reason for the rapid pace of urbanisation is the shifting employment scene, with more and more people opting for professions other than agriculture.

Mr. Sasikumar says his statistics have been largely based on the attitude of the population towards gaining a “metropolitan character.” “More and more people have been engaged in non-agriculture pursuits such as industry and administrative and information-technology-based jobs,” he says.

It is time Kozhikode embraced its identity as an “emerging” metro and planned for urbanisation, he says.“Otherwise, panchayats will have to face the problems of urbanisation, such as a scarcity of drinking water and power, without any external aid,” he says.

The city’s outskirts such as Kunnamangalam offer a natural option for academic institutions for its quietude and pollution-free environment with minimal traffic.Kunnamangalam has a special place on the country’s education map as it hosts two of the premier professional institutes of the country — the Indian Institute of Management and the National Institute of Technology. Both have sprawling campuses with residential facilities for faculty and students.

Many elite English-medium schools have come up in the vicinity to cater for the needs of those employed at the two institutes, a good section from other States.

Professionals with property in the city are showing interest in buying large tracts of land in the suburbs to build houses and live there as they do not mind commuting to the central business district and back on National Highway no. 212, which passes through Kunnamangalam.“I prefer to stay somewhere on the outskirts as buying land within the city limits of Kozhikode is outside my budget. I don’t like living in a flat as a house gives me my own individuality,” Arun Kumar, who teachers Botany at Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, says.

Last Updated on Saturday, 25 August 2012 05:21
 

New guidelines to get BPL cards

Friday, 24 August 2012 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express    24.08.2012

New guidelines to get BPL cards

By Express News Service - BANGALORE

After finding it difficult to identify the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families who are eligible to get food grains through Public Distribution System, the state government has decided to list out 15 criteria under which families cannot apply for BPL cards.

Addressing reporters here on Thursday, Food and Civil Supplies Minister D N Jeevaraj said that according to the new criteria, the ceiling of income of family which was earlier fixed to `17,000 and `12,000 for those living in urban and rural areas respectively has been removed.

“After the removal of over 32.5 lakh cards as many as 1.38 crore families are in the list of BPL families in the state,” said Jeervaraj.According to him, Department of Food and Civil supplies has received over 32 lakh fresh applications for the issue of BPL cards but only 15 lakhs families were eligible for the cards.

Jeevaraj said that the officials had sent SMS to fresh applicants to upload their photos and provide biometric prints and only 2 lakh applicants had responded so far.


Last Updated on Saturday, 25 August 2012 05:57
 
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