The Hindu      04.02.2011

Socio-economic survey of slums nearing completion

A survey of slums taken up by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) in the city is nearing completion. The Urban Community Development (UCD) wing of the corporation is learnt to have completed more than 90 per cent of the socio-economic survey.

‘Topo survey'

The corporation also took up ‘topo survey' of the slums along with the socio-economic survey to develop them under the newly launched Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The topo survey would have details like area of the slum, population, infrastructure available and so on. It would mark the footprints – houses, buildings, underground drainage, drinking water facilities and the like – in the slums.

The socio-economic survey would also cover details like owner of the house, children, age, marriage, livelihood, deaths, if any in the recent past, and reasons for the deaths, schooling, habits, community halls and so on. While the socio-economic survey would be completed in a fortnight, topo survey is expected to be completed in the next three months, officials say.

The corporation would prepare a detailed project report based on the surveys for developing the slums under the RAY. The corporation has identified 109 slums in the city for development under the RAY at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,223 crore.

The stress would be on ‘in situ re-development' of the slum to keep dislocation of slum-dwellers at the lowest possible level. As the objective is realising inclusive growth, relocation of dwellers would be done only where it is absolutely unavoidable, an official explains. But the VMC plans to relocate the people living in 19 hazardous areas, including canal bunds, riverbed and river berm.

The RAY envisages bringing existing slums within the formal system and enabling the dwellers to avail themselves of the same level of basic amenities as those of other areas in the city, while also tackling the shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter out of the reach of the urban poor.

As the scheme would be implemented in a span of five years, 25 per cent of the identified slums would be developed every year. Under this, the VMC would emphasise on drinking water, sanitation, drains, roads, street lighting, underground drainage, municipal solid waste, linking infrastructure, schools, anganwadi centres, urban health centres, employment, community halls, parks and playgrounds.

The Hindu        25.01.2011

Civic body identifies land for housing scheme

Government to transfer land to Corporation: Mayor

In a move aimed at getting the long- delayed EMS housing scheme off the ground, the City Corporation has started identifying land to construct houses for financially backward sections.

Mayor K. Chandrika told the Corporation Council here on Monday that two plots, five acres at Kalladimukham and 50 cents at Thirumala, had been identified.

She said the land would be utilised to construct houses or apartment complexes for the beneficiaries. She was responding to charges raised by the Opposition benches that the scheme had failed to take off because many of the beneficiaries could not afford to purchase land to construct houses.

Terming the scheme a flop, UDF councillors said the amount earmarked for purchase of land was ridiculously inadequate in the capital city.

Ambalathara ward councillor A. Mujib Rahman said the Corporation could not hope to implement the scheme with the Rs.50,000 assistance for beneficiaries to buy land. “It would tantamount to mocking a great man like EMS,” he said.

The Mayor said the Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD) had been asked to prepare a housing plan for the site at Kalladimukham. The government had agreed to transfer the land to the Corporation. The file had been sent to the District Collector for approval, she added.

The Mayor said the Corporation was trying to identify more land in the city to construct houses under the scheme.

Talking to The Hindu, Ms. Chandrika said the project at Kalladimukham would not affect the proposed construction of a rehabilitation centre for the destitute at the site. The two projects can coexist, she said. “Simultaneously, we are trying to expedite the construction of houses under the BSUP (Basic Services for the Urban Poor) scheme,” she said.

Energy meters

The Mayor told the Council that the Corporation would have to think of installing energy meters for streetlights in the city. She was responding to complaints raised by councillors that the local body was forced to shell out a huge amount as electricity bill, for streetlights that were not functional.

The meeting adopted a resolution urging the government and the Power Minister to take up steps to complete the electrification and street-lighting works for which the Corporation had remitted funds with the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).

Moving the resolution, Works standing committee chairman V.S. Padmakumar said the KSEB had spent only Rs.15.91 lakh against a deposit of Rs.1.85 crore for various works.

The Mayor proposed a ward-level joint inspection involving representatives of the Corporation and KSEB, to identify the works yet to be taken up. She promised to take up the issue with the Power Minister and convene a meeting of KSEB officials to discuss the matter.

Action sought

The council adopted a resolution urging the Railway Board for immediate action to check the discharge of solid waste into the Amayizhanjan canal from the Central Railway Station at Thampanoor. Moving the resolution, Sreekanteswaram ward councillor Rajendran Nair said railway contractors were dumping large quantities of plastic and glass into the canal.

This, he said, had led to stagnation of water in the canal, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The resolution also called on the Railway Board to provide fencing for the canal from Pazhavangady to Sreekanteswaram to prevent dumping of garbage.

The council approved the constitution of a five-member committee headed by the Mayor to expedite the processing of applications for building permits.

The committee including the Deputy Mayor, Works standing committee chairman, Corporation Secretary and Town Planning Officer, will meet every second Saturday to dispose of pending applications. The panel was set up on a direction from the government.

The meeting also ratified the constitution of a Spatial Integration Committee chaired by the Mayor. The committee will provide inputs to the Chief Town Planner for the preparation of a master plan for the district. Apart from the Deputy Mayor, the Works standing committee chairman, Corporation Secretary and Corporation Engineer, the panel also includes former Chief Town Planner A. Kasturirangan, architects N. Mahesh, P.B. Sajan and Sankar and representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Planning, IT, Social Welfare, Fisheries, Housing and Health, Kerala Water Authority as well as the Centre for Environment Development.

Poor garbage collection

Councillors representing the peripheral wards annexed from the suburban panchayats complained that the Corporation had made no arrangement to collect garbage from the outlying areas.

They said the absence of garbage trucks was hindering the transport of solid waste to local disposal sites.

The Mayor informed the meeting that the Corporation was working on a Clean City programme focussing on solid waste disposal at points of generation.

“We are initiating talks with apartment owners and hoteliers to seek their cooperation,” she said. S

he said a team of councillors and officials from the Corporation would be leaving for Kozhikode shortly to study the operation of a plastic recycling plant there.