Civic body goes the extra mile to help slum dwellers

With the municipal corporation (MC) going the extra mile to help slum dwellers avail of loans, the latter are on cloud nine as they can now get possession of their “dream homes”.

The MC had constructed 4,832 flats as part of a slum rehabilitation project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Scheme. Of these, 2,496 flats are in Giaspura, 1,200 in Mundian Kalan and 1,136 in Dhandari Kalan.

In order to get a flat, a beneficiary has to pay 10% of Rs 2.5 lakh, the actual cost of each flat. However, the slum dwellers were able to pay only up to Rs 5,000. The remaining 90% would be borne by the government.

Coming to their rescue, the civic body on Saturday organised a camp in association with Punjab and Sind Bank at Leisure valley to help the slum dwellers open accounts and avail of loans so that they could pay the required amount for possession of flats.

The bank officials opened accounts of around 50 residents of Labour Colony and completed the required formalities to provide them loan during the camp that was inaugurated by MC commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agarwal. The beneficiaries would pay of the loans through monthly instalments.

In the first phase of the allotment, the civic body would hand over 1,099 flats to families from slum areas of Labour Colony, Yamuna Colony and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.

Initially, flats would be provided to 103 families of Labour Colony, then to 478 families of Yamuna Colony, and later to 518 families of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.

Chhote Lal, 31, who has been waiting for the flat for over a year, said, “The loan facility will help us pay the required amount conveniently. MC’s move to make arrangement to provide us loans is appreciable.”

MC’s executive engineer HS Bhullar expressed hope that the MC would hand over the flats to the slum dwellers by October 30, adding that more than 50 persons from Labour Colony applied for the loan in the first camp. He said Punjab and Sind Bank would provide loan of Rs 20,000 to these slum dwellers at 4% interest rate.

MC additional commissioner Ghanshyam Thori took the initiative to talk to various banks to make arrangements for loans, so that the flats could be handed over to the slum dwellers as the earliest.

“The 103 families will be shifted to the flats in Giaspura after which MC will take possession of its land in Labour Colony,” he said.