A bungling relocation process By Bansi Mehta Bangalore, May 6: A lack of beneficiary lists for a national slum relocation program has drawn criticism from slum dwellers and activists who say the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board has delayed the project by not provide enough details according to the scheme’s guidelines.
The KSCB announced in a 2007 detailed project report (DPR) that they would move 560 families from the ISRO slum in Shantinagar and the D.S. Road and M.V. Gardens slum. The families were slated for relocation in Sadarmanagala in the eastern outskirts of Bangalore, where there are 560 newly constructed houses. Activists groups working with the slum dwellers said the KSCF bungled the project by neglecting to include a list of names that would be relocated. “The board has not done its homework well. They have got funds from the Central government in spite of not providing any details of the land, facilities and slum dwellers,” said Harish Pooviah, chief coordinator of CIVIC, an organisation working for civic issues in the Bangalore. He said that the board failed to consider the needs of the people and did not engage them in the project.
As a result, last year, the slum dwellers refused to move, saying the new housing complexes were too far from the city limits and their work sites. “We don’t want to go there,” said Kantimati, who lives in the ISRO slum of Shantinagara. “Our children study here in nearby schools, our workplace is here. If we shift, we will loose everything.” According to the provisions of the scheme, the board is suppose to provide a detailed project report, or DPR, which includes details such as land, sanitation, community center and a list of beneficiaries .In order to monitor the progress of the scheme, CIVIC, a nongovernmental organisation that works with the slums, filed a Right to Information Act request, asking for the DPRs of phase one slums in the city. The NGO states that the DPR’s they have received are all inadequate. “Major chapters like land and health are not addressed when [the KSCB] was seeking funds,” said Pooviah, the NGO’s founder. “Simple details like what, when, where, why and how have not be addressed by the board,” said Kavita Kanan, an urban planner and a member of CIVIC.
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