BHUBANESWAR: With a rise in the number of slum-dwellers, the State Government is gearing up to prepare a new project to rehabilitate them in a proper manner. The project, which will focus on improving the livelihood of the slum-dwellers, is an extension of the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) which was implemented in February this year. The RAY, a Central scheme, seeks to extend property rights to slum-dwellers with an aim to create a slum-free India.The project will subsequently be extended to other cities like Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Puri. Sources in the Housing and Urban Development Department said as part of the project, 5,000 houses will be built for people of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and another 5,000 for the Lower Income Groups (LIGs). They added that it was yet to be decided if the houses would be developed on the public private partnership (PPP) mode. Under the project, stress would also be given on provision of proper sanitation and safe water to the dwellers. The decision to formulate a new project, which was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik on Friday, comes in the wake of stiff resistance by people during eviction of roadside slums. Protesting eviction without rehabilitation, slum-dwellers under the aegis of Basti Surakhya Manch here had taken out a rally and submitted a memorandum to the Urban Development Minister Sarada Nayak on Thursday. As per 2009 slum survey, Bhubaneswar has 3.50 lakh population living in 377 slums. Sources said the plan would be finalised in a few months and enumeration work to figure out the number of slum-dwellers to be rehabilitated has been completed. Other modalities are being worked out.
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