Six years after being shifted from Sevanagar near the Railway Station to houses constructed under JNNURM, residents live struggling with problems.
The 759 families shifted, much against their wish, from Sevanagar are accommodated at Madhurawada, Kommadi and Pulagavanipalem in JNNURM houses.
With walls in a bad shape and with leaking sanitary pipes the residents find it difficult to live there, says Pragada Srinivasu, secretary of Association for Rural and Tribal Development (ARTD) that recently brought out a case study on the shifting of residents of Sevanagar and their problems.
The case study deals with the urban slum relocation and how Sevanagar was particularly affected in the absence of a policy with regard to urban property rights on the lines of Relief and Rehabilitation Act for irrigation projects, he says.
Recently thousands of pattas (title deeds) were given away by the government in various parts of the city by issuing GOs.
Though the State government proposed a Slum-Dwellers' Property Rights Act in 2012, it was not passed as discussion did not take place in the Assembly.
The shifted residents do not have pre-school facilities, a school worth the name, market or burial ground, he says. The residents have been affected the most with regard to their livelihoods as they are dependent upon railway-related work like house-keeping and scavenging, he said.
Though a team of municipal officials had visited the JNNURM houses in March 2014 and submitted a report on maintenance it was not taken up for implementation, Mr. Vasu said.
At all the three locations, committees of respective colony residents should be formed to take care of maintenance, ARTD demands.
Rationale questioned
While Sevanagar residents had been shifted forcibly, the PMAY came out with guidelines on construction of houses in situ in railway lands. The absence of such a policy had led to the Sevanagar residents being shifted at that time, he says.
Questioning the rationale for displacing the Sevanagar residents, particularly with a swimming pool coming up there, former Union Energy Secretary E.A.S. Sarma said no public interest was served by it.
The buildings have already developed cracks and are unsafe for habitation and since the incomes of residents declined (after shifting), they are not in a position to take up repairs, he says. The toilets are clogged.
There are lessons to be learnt from the Sevanagar shifting, he says. Any relocation should create better livelihoods and GVMC needs advance preparation for this, he suggests.
To pave way for in situ development of slums located on 17 acres of Railway land, the State government should allot 34 acres in lieu of it, he says.
