Date:26/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112651390500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Pilot project for urban poor almost ready

Deepika Arwind

32 families of Kalyani slum will move into their homes on November 30

The Rs. 1.38-crore project will benefit 190 people
BBMP has identified five slums under the BSUP project

Dignified living: (Left) Residents of Kalyani slum standing in front of the BSUP project. (Right) The old slum where the rooms are mere shacks.

Bangalore: Veena’s house in Kalyani slum, Sampangiram Nagara, Ward number 77, works in shifts. In the morning, the 8 X 8 ft. house is a kitchen and a living room. By night, it becomes a bedroom for a family of four.

Rani’s family of 10 has it harder. Her matchbox house is not big enough to accommodate every one, so they take turns to sleep outside a motorcycle showroom.

Come November 30, all this could change for the 32 families of Kalyani slum.

The first-ever pilot project of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, under the project name ‘Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP)’ will accommodate families in one-bedroom homes. This Rs. 1.38-crore project will benefit 190 people. In March this year, the BBMP identified five slums for the project, of which Kalyani is the first.

The families will be provided a living space of 270 sq.ft. each. “We are eagerly awaiting the move. For 15 months, we have lived in the transit slum,” said Renuka, another slum-dweller.

The slum-dwellers also say that they were told that the project would be completed in eight months, but it had extended to another six months.

Facilities

Each flat in the three-storeyed building will have a living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, toilet and a space to wash and dry clothes. Having their own bathrooms would be a luxury. The families had to share one common bathroom and toilet at the slum.

“It is very difficult to share the bathroom with so many families,” said Rani.

Venkatesh M.R., Chief Engineer of the BSUP project, BBMP, said that only the finishing touches were left, and the project would be completed as promised. “We are waiting for each individual applicant from the families to submit their electricity applications to the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, after which their electricity connections will be finalised,” he said. Water will be provided to them through a mini-water scheme that will be routed from the closest borewell.