The Hindu 30.12.2009
JNNURM: A ray of hope for slum dwellers success
M.T. Shiva Kumar
Bangalore: The slum dwellers across a few wards of the BTM Layout Assembly constituency are known to play a significant role in election campaigns. Apart from turning out in good numbers for the polls, they engage themselves in electioneering, distribution of handbills, door-to-door canvassing and other campaign-related activities.
Basic amenities
But ironically, the fruits of democracy don’t seem to have reached them. Though they have been seeking basic amenities for long, slum dwellers of Ejipura, Mahalingeshwara Layout, Indira Gandhi Nagar and Rajendra Nagar continue to be deprived of drinking water, drainage, sanitation and electricity, besides housing.
Right now they are pinning their hopes on the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which offers a ray of hope to them. The authorities have drawn up a scheme to construct 650 houses for the slum dwellers with all basic amenities.
Under the project, the area will be provided with drinking water supply, electricity connection, good roads and an underground drainage system.
The makeshift dwellings in the slums will make way for the construction of brick-and-mortar houses with RCC roofs. “Construction work on 25 houses has already begun in Rajendranagar slum. Shortly the project will be extended to other slums in the constituency,” said area MLA Ramalinga Reddy.
Flooding
Once the project is completed, the slum dwellers can hopefully bid goodbye to their miserable quality of life. For decades now, they have coped with the consequences of the absence of a drainage system which result in flooded homes.
The worst affected are residents of Ejipura slum, who are forced to endure misery during the monsoon. The authorities are hopeful their travails will end once the project is completed.
