Sites identified for scheme wait for govt’s approval

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 10

The sites identified under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Housing for All by 2022 scheme in the city is waiting for state government’s approval.

The Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) has identified three sites for the project in the city. These sites are a slum area near Shant Nagar and 100 Feet Road, Oriya Colony and Lal Quarter area at NFL.

The BDA has also sent the file of the project to higher officials for their approval after technically clearly the sites.

It is learnt that the Punjab Chief Secretary is to head a meeting in which sites would be approved. Thereafter, the work on them will start.

Sanyam Aggarwal, Chief Administrator, BDA, said, “Three sites have been identified in the city for the project. Once we get the approval from the authorities, we will start the work on the project.”

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had made a plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna in which 30 slum areas in the city were to be revamped. A survey report on the project was prepared by Kolkata-based Stesalit Limited. The firm had also presented a slum-free plan for the city.

The cost of the project is Rs 700 crore in which the Central government, Punjab government and the Municipal Corporation have to pool in funds.

Beneficiaries would be provided a loan on 6 per cent yearly interest. The total numbers of households verified in the first survey, which will be benefited under this scheme, are 11,867.

Under the scheme, the Central grant of Rs one lakh on an average per house can be used by states for any slum redevelopment project.

For redevelopment, around 21,000 households have been included. On an average, Rs 7 lakh would be incurred for one household.

At least 5,000 households have been included for upgrade. For each household, Rs 3.5 lakh will be spent. As many as 300 households have been included for relocation and Rs 6 lakh will be spent on each household.

Large numbers of applications were turned down during verifications as they were not fulfilling the government criteria.