Bhubaneswar: The municipal corporation has finally chalked out plans to demolish a slum near Kalinga Stadium for smooth conduct of the Men's Hockey World Cup to be held here in November.

Authorities of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issues and finalise a roadmap to ensure a smooth eviction drive. Sources said the meeting was held after The Telegraph had on April 18 reported about the delay in clearing encroachments around the stadium.

"We discussed the issue with our officials on Thursday. We will speak to the encroachers and come up with a rehabilitation plan. The slum dwellers will be rehabilitated through various government schemes. We are hopeful to complete the eviction by May end," said municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar.

Kumar said the entire slum would be demolished permanently and the slum dwellers rehabilitated.

"We will start accommodating them in our existing transit houses before demolishing the settlements. We have got the government's nod for it," said Kumar.

The municipal corporation has identified 250 families to be evicted from the settlements near Gate No. 9 of the Kalinga Stadium. The civic body asked the government for Rs 13.2 crore to rehabilitate the slum dwellers. The nod has finally been granted, an official said.

Sources said the slum dwellers would be rehabilitated in various housing schemes of the government, including Rajiv Awas Yojna, Housing for All Scheme of the state and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna among others.

"The slum dwellers will be rehabilitated in various schemes based on their eligibility," said a civic official.

The civic body had made a similar attempt to rehabilitate the slum dwellers during the Asian Athletics Championship last year. Each family was paid a compensation of Rs 10,000, but the plan failed with the slum dwellers returning to the encroached territory after the meet was ended.

"We are ready to talk and will check out their offer. A compensation of Rs 10,000, which they had given us last year, is not an amount that we can use to build a new house. I hope they have something better this time else we are not going to leave our place under any circumstances," said Chidananda Moharana, a slum dweller.

Besides demolishing the slum, the civic authorities also have plans to shift a temple near Gate No. 2 of the stadium. This is necessary to construct the west stand of the stadium.

"We will talk to the residents and shift the temple to another location," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.