Southern States
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Karnataka
Karnataka takes a bold step towards slum clearance
By Our Staff Correspondent
MANGALORE, DEC. 5. The Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB) has been given additional jurisdiction and powers after the Government put the board on the fast track. This has cleared many hurdles in implementing a meaningful programme, Mr. C.R.Narayanappa, the Chairman of the board has said.
Addressing a press conference here today after touring Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, Mr. Narayanappa said the administrative reforms promulgated by the Chief Minister, Mr.
S.M.Krishna, pertaining to slum clearance, were backed by adequate financial support from international agencies. The Government had requisitioned Rs. 1,200 crore from the Japanese Bank for International Co-operation, of which Rs. 750 crore would be spent on 21 towns and cities, and Rs. 508 crore on Bangalore City. However, the Government had already released Rs. 276 crore, partly from its own resource and the rest through HUDCO, and the KSCB had begun to start clearing slums and replacing them with pucca houses and housing complexes.
The board had also decided to introduce a holistic slum clearance concept by adopting some components of the Centre's Nirmal Jyothi Yojana. The State had identified 989 slums in 21 cities and towns in the State under the Nirmal Jyothi Yojana, which would benefit 14.97 lakh people. Another 3,000 slums would be adopted by the State Government for full development. The exercise would take four years in as many phases, he added.
Mr. Narayanappa said the amendment to the 1974 Slum Clearance Act which was passed on November 17, enabled the Government to bestow acquisition powers on the board of all the vacant land required for slum clearance. The Board could now ask corporations, urban development authorities, city and town municipalities and taluk panchayats to hand over the land to the board without paying fees. To acquire private lands, the board would continue to approach the Deputy Commissioner of the respective districts, he added.
The amendment also enabled the Government to bestow rights of ownership on lease-cum-sale basis to the beneficiaries with a moratorium on the sale of the property for 15 years. Karnataka was the first State to take such a bold step towards slum clearance, he added.
Udupi District had the largest number of slums with 52 areas while Dakshina Kannada District had 28 slums, 22 of them inside Mangalore city. The KSCB had constituted a five-member committee to inspect the slum areas in the State, and based on its report the board would take up slum clearance on priority basis, he added.
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