Shahpur Colony, last slum of Chandigarh, to be razed on Sept 30

The city is all set to become the first slum-free city in the country. The UT Administration has decided to demolish the last slum — Shahpur Colony in Sector 38 (West) — on September 30.

After its demolition, Chandigarh will be declared the first slum-free city of India. Development on the reclaimed land will be carried out according to the original Master Plan prepared by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier.

According to officials, public notices have been be pasted outside the Shahpur Colony asking the illegal occupants to vacate the land at the earliest. The demolition drive is likely to begin early in the morning, said the officials. Nearly 44 families in the colony have been found to be eligible under the rehabilitation scheme and will get flats, they added.

Spread over nearly 6 acres, the slum with nearly 500 jhuggis houses nearly 2,000 people. Many residents of the colony said they had been residing there for the past many decades and they had nowhere to go after demolition. Ram Avtar, 55, said he had been running a tea stall in Sector 36 for the past nearly two decades and had been staying in the colony. After the demolition of the colony, he was likely to lose his business, as he was not aware where would he go with this family.

Expressing similar sentiments, Anita Devi (42), a mother of three children, and working as a domestic help, said they were not sure where would they stay after the demolition. The education of her children is going to suffer as they are studying in nearby schools. The administration should wait at least till the completion of the academic session. She demanded that all occupants of the colony should be rehabilitated under the small flat scheme of the government.

The UT Administration has demolished 18 of the 19 slum colonies in the city so far and reclaimed more than 500 acres of land worth over Rs 20,000 crore.

On June 19, the UT Administration had carried out an eviction and demolition drive at the Adarsh Colony slum, located between Sector 53 and 54, and reclaimed approximately 12 acres of prime government land.

On May 6, the Administration had removed nearly 2,500 structures at Janta Colony in Sector 25 and reclaimed around 10 acres of government land worth Rs 350 crore.