Two bedroom residential units within six months

Work progressing on 396 units: Somesh Kumar. n order to facilitate and make the process of burying easier, the GHMC will soon come up with a system. Once a person makes a call, then he won’t have to struggle to get the body buried, as everything will be done for him.

The first colony of the two bedroom homes the State government promised to build for all eligible citizens will be built in the coming six months, said Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Somesh Kumar.

“Work near Gandhi hospital is on and 396 houses are under construction. There are 1466 slums in Hyderabad, in which one-third of the city’s population stays. About 10 per cent of people who stay there live in plots of 25 square feet (SFT), while 45 per cent stay in homes of 40 SFT,” said Mr. Kumar.

The GHMC chief was addressing people at the ‘Livable Telangana, Villages, Towns and Cities’ programme organised here on Friday by the Telangana Artchitects Associaton. Mr. Kumar stated that most of the roads in slum areas are just four to five feet wide, and that a large number of people stay in ‘kutcha’ or ‘semi pucca’ homes.

Mr. Kumar said that converting slums into G+3 models and constructing others on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model, wherein some land can be given for commercial use, are also ways to regularise slums. “However slums built on nalas cannot be regularised. The residents must be shifted to the nearest area and the nalas must be developed so that the city does not suffer,” mentioned Mr. Kumar.

About lake protection in Hyderabad, Mr. Kumar stated that the GHMC has already taken steps in the direction, and that 36 lakes will be developed shortly. “We have also prepared a comprehensive plan, which is in the tender stage to build corridors for traffic, which will be signal-free,” he said, and further stated that 50 junctions which witness heavy traffic have been identified for development and better management.

Burial grounds

In order to facilitate and make the process of burying easier, the GHMC will soon come up with a system. Once a person makes a call, then he won’t have to struggle to get the body buried, as everything will be done for him. This integrated service will come up in the next four or five months. Also, the present graveyards will be made greener to look like parks,” said Mr. Kumar.