BANGALORE: The Government is thinking of introducing amendments to the Karnataka Urban Development Act and the Municipal Corporations Act to enable joint ventures in housing projects for the poor.

Sources in the Government told The Hindu here on Wednesday that it would be a quid pro quo arrangement between the Government and private housing companies in building houses for the poor.

The proposal is identical to what has been done in Mumbai where housing projects for the poor, particularly slum dwellers, are being implemented in a big way. To enable joint venture in housing schemes, it is imperative for the State Government to amend some of these Acts and this is likely to be set in motion during the coming session of the legislature.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned, on the directions of the Minister for Housing D.T. Jayakumar, have commenced a survey of slums and the extent of land that they have occupied to enable the Government to arrive at a scheme that would be beneficial to slum dwellers and private housing companies that will construct apartments. Yet another interesting feature of the scheme will be the involvement of the representatives of slum dwellers and even non-governmental organisations in the programme.

What has come as a boon to slum dwellers and also the Government in providing houses to the houseless (by replacing thatched huts with concrete structures) has been the horizontal growth of slums in Bangalore, which is akin to what has happened in Mumbai. Interestingly, a large number of slums in Bangalore are located in the city centre where land prices have increased in the recent years.

For instance, the land value of some of the huts (10 feet by 10 feet) in Gandhinagar area has been estimated at over Rs. 10 lakh, although the occupants cannot sell the land as they have no documents for them.

Mr. Jayakumar said the Government had worked out a long-term plan to ensure that permanent housing was provided to the houseless and the site-less in another 10 years. "We want to ensure that the State is hut-free by 2015. Apart from the Central housing schemes, the State will also plan housing schemes," he said. According to a survey conducted in 2003, the number of homeless people in the State has been estimated at 13.5 lakh, while the number of site-less people is 12 lakh.

The difference in the two categories is that the homeless live on their own sites in thatched or zinc sheet roof houses, while the site-less move from one place to another in search of temporary accommodation.

The Minister said credit should go to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who has revived the plan to provide housing to the poor. The State Government is holding talks with the Union Government and financial institutions in this connection.

To ensure a sense of responsibility and participation among those seeking houses, the beneficiaries would be asked to remit a certain amount with the Government.

Mr. Jayakumar said the urban Ashraya housing scheme for the poor, particularly for those residing in the jurisdiction of the local bodies in the districts, has been restarted and MLAs would head the urban Ashraya committees in their constituencies to identify the beneficiaries. In the last two years, 2.8 lakh houses had been constructed for the poor and the plan now was to build another three lakh houses within the next 10 months, he added.

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