Urban News

At a function organised to distribute alternative sites to 2,000 people, who lost their sites due to various reasons, Ashok said: "Many people would have invested their lifetime's savings to construct houses and if they are demolished in the name of acquisition, their lives would be shattered."

He said nearly 1,300 of the 2,000 people who were getting alternate sites were revenue site holders. "The rest are getting the sites on the directions of the courts or because they lost them for developmental purposes," he said. "Therefore, the authorities should ensure that the buildings in which people are living are notified at the time of acquisition."

Developing lakes

Ashok said the BDA would undertake construction of a 65kmstretch of Peripheral Ring Road at the cost of `5,000 crore and that the government was determined to rejuvenate all the lakes in and around the city.

He said the state government has so far given 16,000 title deeds to the slumdwellers and is in the process of giving 10,000 more title deeds within a month. "I held discussions with the chief minister and the farmers," Ashok said. "I am sure the chief minister will agree on reasonable compensation for land owners who will lose their lands for Arkavathy layout." He said the BDA will not undertake any work at the layout till the issue was settled.

Slumfree

IT and BT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu said, "As the Central government was giving aid only to those slumdwellers who have title deeds, we are focusing on giving title deeds to slum dwellers."

He said according to an estimate, there were 3,390 slums in the state and some were in private lands.

"We are contemplating on either shifting the slums that are on the private lands to the buildings constructed on government lands or giving TDRs to the private land owners in return for the land," he said. "We are also contemplating constructing fourstoried buildings in the slums that are situated on the private lands and giving a share in the buildings to the land owners in return."

He said the state government will construct 40,000 houses for the slumdwellers at the cost of `2,000 crore with aid from JnNURM.

The state government is constructing some more houses under the Rajiv Awaz Yojana and is contributing `1,000 crore for the same. "Around 45 lakh people are living in slums and our aim is to ensure they get their own houses," said Katta.

Truckers strike

Speaking on the sidelines of the function, Ashoka said the truckers were going on a strike against the Central government's policy though the Centre has responded positively to their demands.

"I advise the truckers not to cause inconvenience to the people by going on strike frequently as they have gone on strike four times this year."