RAY of hope to rid cities of slums

A report from Indian Express

The Orissa Government has started the process to bring about necessary policy changes for implementation of Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY) which lays down guidelines to free the cities of growing slums.

Six cities have been taken up in the first phase. As part of spadework, the Government has started slum mapping.

Besides Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur municipal corporations, the Government has included Puri, Sambalpur and Rourkela ULBs. Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) is the nodal agency to carry out the task.

All the six ULBs have been asked to set up technical cells for slum mapping. The cells will have experts on geographic information system (GIS), management information system (MIS), planning and social development. The slum population in these six ULBs stands at over 10.6 lakh.

Under RAY, which has been envisaged as a five-year project with ` 1 lakh crore funding, there would be no ceiling on the number of housing units for the urban areas. However, certain specifications will be put in place. Group housing projects would have to earmark 10 to 15 per cent towards economically weaker sections and LIGs so as to get floor area ratio (FAR) relaxations. Similarly, the allocation of funds for urban poor in the budgets would have to be parked in a separate non-lapsable account so that it adds on to the provisions for the subsequent year instead of lying unused.

However, the beneficiary would be required to invest 25 per cent of the housing cost as his/her share which would raise questions of ownership in future. It is the nature of occupancy and tenancy rights which will require legislative changes and the State Government is already preparing the ground works.

“The State Government may have to come up with an executive order in this regard before validating it through a legislation subsequently. We are already working in this direction,” sources said.

Since the Centre would execute the programme, it wants the State Government to expedite the process. A lengthy process of approval of housing projects leads to at least a 15 per cent rise in project cost, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Kiran Dhingra said addressing a State level workshop on ‘slum-free cities’ here on Friday.

Additional Secretary to the Ministry Prasanna Kumar Mohanty said RAY would be implemented for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack together. Urban areas have to create space for the slum-dwellers as they provide the services but only occupy just about three per cent of the land.