The Hindu      19.09.2014  

Kollam gets Rs. 20.3-crore project for slum clearance

The pilot scheme of the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) in the
State will be implemented in Kollam city. The technical sanction for
this was obtained on Tuesday. The Centrally sponsored scheme aims at
creating slum-free cities. The pilot project will be implemented at the
SMP Palace slum colony.

Mayor Prasanna Earnest told
press persons on Thursday that it will be a Rs. 20.30 crore project.
Fifty per cent of the amount will be funded by the Centre, 30 per cent
by the State government and the remaining 20 per cent equally shared by
the Kollam City Corporation and the beneficiaries. One hundred and
ninety-five families at the pilot scheme colony will be benefitted. Two
room kitchen apartments in eight-storey blocks will be constructed.
Under the second phase 25 slums in Kollam city will be covered by RAY.
Ms. Earnest said that Rs.500 crore will be obtained as grant from the
Centre.

Meeting planned

A
meeting between the stakeholders and consultant of the scheme will be
held at 3 p.m. on October 10 at the Municipal Council hall, she said.

While
the Pullikada slum colony had the top priority of the Corporation to
implement the scheme, the property where the slum stands is still under
the ownership of the Railways. RAY stipulates that the scheme will be
implemented only on land owned by city Corporations.

In
August 2011, Kollam became the first city in the State to complete the
basic formalities to implement the RAY scheme. In 2013, the detailed
project report was prepared by the Centre of Science and Technology for
Rural Development (Costford) and on May 13, the Central Sanctioning and
Monitoring Committee gave the green signal for the scheme.