Hyderabad Slums stay still

EVEN AFTER SPENDING RS 4,200 CR ON WELFARE SCHEMES…

Even though the GO No 50 was meant for regularizing the lands of the urban poor, the state government has not issued pattas to the houses constructed 20 years ago. Ironically, there are a large number of houses constructed under various government schemes remained unoccupied and in a dilapidated condition

Hyderabad: Despite spending a huge sum of Rs 4,200 crore by successive governments since 1974 till date, Hyderabad is still not a slum-free city.

As per the government survey in 2012, there were 1476 slums across Hyderabad and now the number has increased to 1504. The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) had about 662 slums in 1986 and now the number has gone to 964 as per the government records. The funds, sanctioned through various welfare schemes have failed miserably in making the city slum-free.

Even though the GO No 50 was meant for regularizing the lands of the urban poor, the state government has not issued pattas to the houses constructed 20 years ago. Ironically, there are a large number of houses constructed under various government schemes remained unoccupied and in a dilapidated condition.

According to information obtained by B Sambi Reddy of Lok Satta from the RTI, the state government had received about Rs 228 crore through various organisations of England and the World Bank. It had received Rs 16 crore from 1984 to 1989 and Rs 42.7 crore through Department for International Development (DFID) funds from England. Another Rs 77 crore was received under the Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor project (APUSP) in 2002. An amount of Rs 46.49 crore in 2004 was received through India Population Project (IPP-VIII) and World Bank.

The then government also received Rs 2328 crore through various Centre schemes including Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY), JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission), Rajiv Gruha Kalpa (RGK) and other programmes. An amount of Rs 63.35 crore was received through VAMBAY in 2001.

The Centre had cleared 26 projects worth Rs 2,200 crore for GHMC under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UI&G) and Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) of JNNURM schemes. Most of these works were sanctioned during 2005 and 2006. Of them, 10 works worth about Rs 407crore were sanctioned under Urban Infrastructure and Governance and another Rs 1,890 crore under BSUP. Rs 6.34 crore was received under Ray scheme, which was started in 2009.

The government received Rs 59.14 crore under other programs including National Slum Development Programme (NSDP), Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rozgar Yojana, (SJSRY), Balika samrudhi yojana (BSY), Adarsha basthis Programme (ABP), and local water &sewerage system schemes.

Besides this, the Urban Community Development wing had sanctioned Rs 1667 crore till date from 1974. Even Rs 150 crore released by the Telangana state government has also went in vain. Lok Satta Party city general secretary B Sambi Reddy demanded the state government to understand the gravity of the situation and concentrate on providing the basic amenities like health, environment, education, and employment of the youth.

By Maddy Deekshith