5 months ago
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The deteriorating and deserted red-and-white five-storey buildings lodging 7,400 flats for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) successful Bhalswa, northbound Delhi, whitethorn soon beryllium transformed into a modern residential complex, with the Rekha Gupta-led authorities readying their redevelopment.
The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which manages the flats, has initiated the tender process for repairs.
“The flats necessitate repairs to marque them habitable again. We presented a fewer proposals during our gathering with the Chief Minister. We are revising the proposals arsenic per the suggestions of the committee members and aiming to commencement the tender process wrong six months for each the sites,” said a elder DUSIB official.
Ms. Gupta visited the Bhalswa flats connected December 9 and called the ongoing vacancy a “grave injustice to mediocre families”. She said the authorities volition crook the tract into a modern residential complex.
The DUSIB is successful complaint of 18,000 low-cost EWS flats crossed Dwarka, Sultanpuri, Savda Ghevra, and Bhalswa nether the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It aimed astatine providing affordable lodging to jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) dwellers. However, the flats stay empty, contempt officials claiming that hundreds of eligible beneficiary families person already been identified.
State of despair
Official information accessed by The Hindu amusement that lone 2,122 flats person been allotted truthful far, with the remaining 15,902 lying bare and successful mediocre condition.
Inspections uncovered a litany of woes: faulty wiring, h2o seepage, shattered doors, and missing fixtures. Despite sporadic repairs, the flats continued to deteriorate, a erstwhile committee subordinate said.
Ms. Gupta chaired the archetypal DUSIB committee gathering connected November 21, during which the information of the Bhalswa flats was discussed, on with plans to redevelop roads, parks, sewers, and pathways. The docket was postponed to the adjacent meeting, arsenic the program for the operation of schools, wellness facilities, assemblage halls, parking spaces, and EV-charging stations is awaited.
A akin communicative unfolds successful Sultanpuri and Dwarka Sector 16, wherever EWS flats besides await much-needed repairs and care.
“The flats cannot beryllium allotted successful isolation. Supporting facilities are captious for rehabilitation to work,” a elder DUSIB authoritative said.
Cause of delay
At slightest 18,000 slum dwellers surviving wrong 5 km of the DUSIB flats successful assorted locations were recovered eligible. “Allotment letters were sent, and beneficiaries were asked to wage astir ₹1.12 lakh per flat, positive ₹30,000 arsenic a one-time attraction charge,” a erstwhile authoritative said. Nearly 10,000 beneficiaries paid, but they are inactive waiting for their allotments.
The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation built the flats and handed them implicit to the DUSIB successful 2016 for allotment nether the Delhi Slum Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015. The Delhi authorities renamed it Mukhyamantri Awaas Yojana (MMAY) successful 2019.
A erstwhile DUSIB committee subordinate said that nether MMAY, a onshore survey began successful 2019 to find eligible beneficiaries. However, it faced problems erstwhile the survey connected onshore owned by the Delhi Development Authority, the Centre, and different agencies was stopped, “at the petition of the DDA”. The Centre was pushing for the allocation nether the Affordable Rental Housing Complex strategy post-COVID-19. The allocation remained stalled adjacent aft the Delhi authorities agreed to motion an MoU successful 2022.
