BackDeveloped states not too keen on slum rehabilitation, say experts
A technical committee to estimate the urban housing shortage says developed states claim they do not have land
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New Delhi: The government’s proposed plan to rehabilitate urban slum dwellers may get a lukewarm response as the relatively more developed states are reluctant to allot land within the city limits for dwellings for the poor, citing a paucity.
The ₹ 35,000 crore Rajiv Awas Yojana, which aims to improve the dwelling units of people who stay in urban slums, will not be successful till the time there is commitment on the part of the state governments to accommodate the poor in cities, said Amitabh Kundu, who chaired a technical committee to estimate the urban housing shortage.
“We have found states which do not want to give land for rehabilitation of the poor. They say that they are facing a shortage of land. Especially, developed states like Punjab and West Bengal are saying that they do not have land," he said.
Rajiv Awas Yojana was announced in 2008 during a joint parliamentary session when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance formed a government for the second time. There is a shortage of 18.78 million housing units in the country, 96% of which is in the economically weaker section and lower income group category, according to the report submitted by Kundu’s committee.
Rehabilitation of slum dwellers may be done wherever they are living or by relocating them to a different area.
Kundu, a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that while 70% of the slums in cities will have to rehabilitate where there are located, 30% will have to be shifted elsewhere.
Rajesh Kumar Kalra, general manager at Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Co., said land for relocation is a problem in the state. “We do not have land where we can relocate these slums. We have written to the Centre several times on this issue," he said over the phone.
Seven cities in Punjab—Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bhatinda, Jalalabad and Batala—were selected to implement Rajiv Awas Yojana, Kalra said.
The other problem was that some state governments are not willing to give away land where slum dwellers are currently living for in-situ rehabilitation, Kundu said.
“In some states, there are slums on prime land and the state governments have a problem with this. States have failed to give a commitment that they will give land where slums are existing. You cannot put the poor on the periphery," he said.
A senior official from the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry said some states are not keen on this programme as a lot of slum dwellers in cities are outsiders and they are not comfortable with the idea of making them permanent residents. “Some prosperous states were not too keen in the beginning but they have become enthusiastic in the last two years," said the official who declined to be named.
Chandrashekhar, an architect and activist from Mumbai, said the scheme will encourage migration to cities. “The government needs to come up with a date and say that only slums which came up before this date will be rehabilitated, otherwise this scheme will cause urban agglomerations to grow more."
Rajiv Awas Yojana is likely to come up before the Union cabinet in the later half of the month for approval.
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