GUWAHATI, June 18 � The Mahanagar Unnayan Samity, Guwahati has urged the Gauhati High Court to direct the State government to take steps for the rehabilitation of the slum dwellers of the city, for a slum-free Guwahati.
Raising concern over the growing anti-social activities in the slum areas, the Samity, through an affidavit filed recently, informed that the bio-metric survey conducted by the State government by identifying various slums of the city, is not yet complete.
The bio-metric survey was conducted under the Basic Service to the Urban Poor (BSUP) subhead of the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme (JNNURM).
�This survey process should be completed in a transparent manner and the names of the beneficiaries of this scheme should be published through government notification by the GMC without any further delay,� Samity president Subodh Sarma said.
�Some of the slums within the heart of the city have become den for criminal activities. For such slums already surveyed under the above scheme, an immediate housing project should be taken to clean the city,� mentioned the affidavit.
Further raising the issue of people living in the hilly areas of the city in an unplanned manner, the Samity suggested that such people should be accommodated in planned and developed multi-storied housing colonies located at the foothills of such areas.
According to the Samity, the government land, thus, can be restored from encroachers and aforestation drives can be taken up in an effective manner.
�These people, generally of the lower income group, have settled in the hilly areas for decades. Government has already surveyed such people and the estimated number of households in such areas is 67, 000. Under the first phase of BSUP survey, people living in hilly slopes, without basic infrastructure were classified as slum dwellers. Hence, such people can be covered under the housing scheme of the JNNURM,� Sarma added.
