File picture of Tanla Sahi slum at Tulsipur in Cuttack

Cuttack, May 26: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation has failed to spend more than Rs 15.76 crore provided by the state government to rehabilitate people living in the city’s slums.

The funds were provided under the central government-sponsored Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme, the corporation’s first slum-rehabilitation project.

The first installment of funds released by the Centre, along with an equal share by the state government, was passed on to the corporation in December 2010. The second installment was to be released after submission of a utilisation certificate by the civic body.

The non-utilisation of funds has been blamed on the lack of response to tenders invited by the civic body for implementation of the project that envisages construction of three-storey buildings with apartments for slum dwellers at two slum pockets in a public-private-participation (PPP) mode.

Two slum pockets in Tulasipur and Andarpur were identified for the project.

“There was no response to the tenders inviting expression of interest. We expect the problem to be resolved by the government soon by taking a decision on a proposal to assign the construction work to the Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation,” executive engineer of the civic body Lalit Mohan Das told The Telegraph.

“In total, around Rs 5.31 crore has been released to the corporation for Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme. Apart from that, in order to meet the escalation of coast, the state government has also released Rs 10.45 crore,” a senior official said.