New hope: Slum dwellers can now hope to move into concrete buildings. Picture by Eastern Projections

April 16: The Centre has approved Rs 53.95 crore for the construction of 1,232 new units for slum dwellers in Guwahati.

Sources in the chief minister’s office said the Union ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation has approved the amount under its basic services to the urban poor scheme with the Centre chipping in with Rs 48.56 crore to the total cost.

“We will have to provide Rs 5.4 crore. The funds will be approved for relocating and upgrading the slum areas. We will need around Rs 125 crore to upgrade the slum areas but the approval is a welcome development as it will definitely help create infrastructure. We have to carry out a new survey to include new slums in the second phase,” the source said.

Though the 60-ward Guwahati Municipal Corporation has officially recognised 26 slums with a population of nearly 1.6 lakh, sources in the health department said there are over 100 shanty towns. The biggest slums in the city are located in Fatasil Ambari, Morasali and Solapar.

Since the focus is more on the recognised slums, the ones outside the ambit of the corporation pose a serious health hazard to those living in them as well as in the peripheries.

“At least one in every four person lives in these areas without access to basic facilities. The sanction will help expedite the ongoing projects aimed at improving the overall living conditions,” a source in the corporation said.

In December 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the scheme with a view to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who live in the 63 identified mission cities, of which Guwahati is one. It aims to develop a healthy urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure to the urban slum dwellers.

The Guwahati development department had submitted Rs 70 crore-project to construct flats for 902 families living in the slums to the Union ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation in September.

Sources said preliminary work has started on the proposal that envisaged building 700 flats in the Fatasil Ambari area, 90 at Solapar and 112 at Morisali with each of these having two rooms, one kitchen and a bathroom.

The detection of a few cholera cases in August had forced Dispur to ask the corporation to remove the slums at the earliest.