Bhubaneswar, July 1: The ambitious smart city project is set to encounter its first serious challenge with the administration planning to evict slum dwellers to revamp and build a housing project on a 985-acres stretch along the Janpath.
Though planners of the smart city are confident about taking forward the project, what might not be music to their ears is the Slum Dwellers' Association's threat to launch an agitation if their concerns are not addressed.
The re-development project includes plan to build four housing complexes for people belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) and low-income group (LIG) and an artificial lake near a natural drainage channel along the Janpath between Bapuji Nagar and Satya Nagar.
Government estimates say that around 25 per cent land of the 985 acres, dispersed across several locations, have been encroached upon by slum dwellers. The authorities have identified four sites at Saheed Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Kharavela Nagar and Bapuji Nagar for the proposed EWS and LIG housing complexes. The general administration department has also allotted 29 acres for the housing projects.
According to a Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) survey conducted in March this year, there are some 50,000 people living in 5,273 dwelling units in 25 big slums in this area. However, leader of the Slum Dwellers' Association Pratap Sahu, has claimed that the municipal corporation's survey and its list of beneficiaries were based on 2011 figures. However, the civic body has refuted Sahu's claim.
"The civic body is considering the list of beneficiaries that they had prepared some five years ago. This is a gross injustice to us. In the past five years, many dwellers have established themselves here. What will happen to them if they are evicted. We will organise a major agitation shortly if all the beneficiaries are not included in the civic body's list," said Sahu.
Hitting back at Sahu, mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We have conducted the identification drive very recently and in a phase-wise manner. We have found only 5,273 households eligible to get houses in the EWS and LIG housing complexes. The dwellers will be allotted houses in facilities near their present locality. So, there will actually be no eviction, but only temporary relocation."
The slum dwellers are in no mood to listen to the mayor. The civic body has already started receiving several complaints alleging irregularity done in identifying the beneficiaries.
The slum dwellers have alleged that the civic body had arbitrarily listed the beneficiaries and selected only 5,273 households, while the figure would go above 10,000 in case a transparent survey was carried out.
"I have been living here for the past 20 years. But, I was not included in the list of beneficiaries. I have no idea when the civic body officials came and undertook any survey. I was not even aware of any such development project in this area. I don't know where will we go and what will happen to us if they evict us," said Priya Jena, who lives at Harijan Sahi in Kharavela Nagar.
State tourism and culture minister Ashok Chandra Panda had also clarified yesterday that no slums would be demolished under the smart city project, instead they will be rehabilitated in the four housing projects.
