The Hindu : Front Page : 12,630 houses for slum dwellers

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Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
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12,630 houses for slum dwellers

K.V. Prasad

SET TO CHANGE: In the first phase 2,207 houses will be provided in 18 slums. A view of unauthorised settlements on Valankulam Tank in Coimbatore.

COIMBATORE: The Union Government cleared on Wednesday the second and a major phase of Coimbatore Corporation's scheme to provide multi-storeyed tenements for the city's slum dwellers. Under this, 9,923 dwelling units are to be provided to people living in 62 slums at a cost of Rs. 200 crore. The scheme is to be implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Mayor R. Venkatachalam told The Hindu that totally 12,630 houses are to be provided to people living in 80 slums under the first two phases that have been cleared by the Centre. The Rs. 58-crore first phase, cleared recently, would provide 2,207 houses for people living in 18 slums. The next phase for 90 slums will involve identifying lands to relocate those who have encroached on water bodies. Some sites have been identified for the first two phases. The clearance by the mission directorate under the Union Urban Development Ministry came after a presentation of the scheme by Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran in New Delhi this week. "The Centre has cleared its 50 per cent grant for the first phase. The grant for the second phase was also agreed upon at the presentation. Only a formal signing of the grant orders is to be done," the Mayor said. The scheme and the clearance orders would be forwarded to the State Government for its 20 per cent grant, he said.

The Corporation should spend the remaining 30 per cent. It plans to meet a part of its expenses by getting a beneficiary contribution of 10 per cent to 12 per cent from the slum dwellers.

The Mayor said this would rid the city of huts and tiled roof tenements located amid filth and squalor. The scheme aimed to improve the living conditions of the urban poor, even as it aimed to create a slum-free city.

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