Pre-fabricated houses for slum-dwellers in BBN area

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, June 19

The efforts of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority to rehabilitate slum dwellers have started yielding good results with three persons coming forward to construct pre-fabricated structures on their land.

Lalit Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority, said two land owners in Nalagarh and one in the Baddi industrial area had come forward to construct such structures.

He said Suresh Kumar of Chattipur village in Baddi and a society running “Ishri Gaushala” in New Nalagarh had shown interest in the venture.

A similar proposal has also been received from a land owner at Dattowal in the Nalagarh area where some shanties already exist.

Suresh Kumar has begun constructing the low-cost hutments on his land spread across 2.5-3 bighas. He is replacing the shabby shanties with hygienic structures now.

Jain said as per the approved policy, no planning fee would be charged either for change of land use or for passing building maps from the land owners. The authority will provide them the design, power and water connections among other basic amenities like a common toilet. The owner will be allowed to charge about Rs 700 from each dweller for the structures erected on his land. Construction of common lanes between the pre-fabricated structures was is being explored.

This will provide hygienic environs to the slum dwellers and rid the BBN area of shabby shanties which have been giving it an unpleasant look.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) area houses nearly 70 slum clusters which exist both on private and government land. As many as 20,000 migrant labourers reside in places like Shitalpur, Chakka, Manpura, Kishenpura, Barotiwala, Peerstan and Baddi.

In a bid to facilitate private builders, no planning fee will be charged from such individuals and they will be exempted from paying taxes. With limited structures being allowed in an area, the scheme will ensure provision of good living conditions to the poorest of the poor in the state’s industrial hub of BBN.

With no potable drinking water facility, jhuggi dwellers rely either on hand pumps or draw water from nearby sources. In some places, a few toilets are serving a population of more than 100 people and the level of hygiene is not satisfactory. The quality of water in various rivers of the BBN has been severally contaminated as some industrial units dump effluents into them. “More people are expected to come forward to construct such hygienic structures under the scheme,” said Jain, who has been pursuing the locals to adopt it and ensure hygienic environs in the area.