Slum Dweller
Mayor R. Venkatachalam (second left) and Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner V.K. Shanmugham (left) handing over a cheque to a slum dweller in the city as part of funding for a housing project for the urban poor. The scheme to provide basic services to the urban poor (BSUP) is progressing well and the Coimbatore Corporation is focussed on creating a slum-free city, according to Mayor R. Venkatachalam. The slums will be provided with all the basic amenities the other areas in a city have – right from individual drinking water connections to tar roads and drainage. The project aims at raising the living standard of the people in the slums and it will get grants from the Central and State Governments under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The release of funds is also being done promptly to ensure that the construction of the houses goes on smoothly. The funds release is being done at four stages of construction. The Corporation is also checking whether the construction is on and whether the funds are being released at the appropriate stage.
Mr. Venkatachalam and Corporation Commissioner V.K. Shanmugham issued cheques for various stages to beneficiaries during a recent door-to-door exercise recently. “Till now, we issued cheques at a common spot. This time, we thought of doing this door-to-door as it helped in making an on-the-spot assessment of the scheme’s progress,” the Mayor says. “We can verify at what stage the construction is and also whether the owner of the building is receiving the funds.” The Mayor says that the State Government is firm that the BSUP scheme should be a success.
The scheme is being implemented with a part of the project cost being met by the beneficiaries. Each house, measuring less than 200 ft, costs Rs.1.12 lakh. Of this, the building owner should contribute a total of Rs.48,000. Apart from obtaining the grants from the Governments, the Corporation is also helping the beneficiaries get loans from banks to pay their share of the cost. The entire scheme is being implemented in a total of three phases.
More than 23,000 people are to benefit from more than 5,100 houses in the first phase. The next phase will provide more than 10,000 houses to 46,000 people. These two phases will be implemented at a cost of Rs.250 crore. The third phase will involve re-locating people in the slums that have encroached water bodies. That will be given a final shape after identifying the lands for the re-location. The first phase that is being implemented has seen the disbursement of about Rs.8.7 crore in four stages of funds release.
The Corporation says that so far 1,291 beneficiaries have received funds for various stages of construction (see table). In the recent door-to-door issuing of cheques, funds totalling Rs.13.15 lakh were given to as many as 47 beneficiaries who were dwelling in wards 62 and 63 of the Corporation. “The scheme in Coimbatore is being taken as a model by the Government. “Our plans are being presented at various meetings on slum development projects,” says the Mayor.
