The Times of India          26.11.2010

MC to seek private land for slum rehab colonies

LUDHIANA: Municipal authorities are mulling the idea of involving private developers to solve the problem of land scarcity they are facing. the civic body has started working for the development of the rehabilitation colonies for people residing in slums, but they do not have enough area for the purpose.

The Centre's Rajiv Awas Yojna housing project had asked MC for this. Private developers would be asked to preserve a fourth of the land for housing complexes for slum dwellers and for that, central government will pay them money.

MC records of a survey of 2002 showed there were around 209 slums in the city. Municipal commissioner AK Sinha has asked building branch to conduct another survey in this regard.

Notably the municipal corporations housing scheme for 4,832 flats under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is near completion and the officials are claiming that they

would allot 1,280 flats in the first phase while rest would be allotted in January 2011. For the allotments, authorities would issue smart cards following a biometric survey in the slums situated on the MC land that is in Jamuna Colony, Sarabha Colony and Labour Colony.

"We organized a meeting recently in this regard and central officials had demanded the proposals from the local bodies of Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab," said SDO of bridges and roads department HS Bhullar. Senior town planner DS Brar said identification of slum areas would begin soon.