PURA a dream too far?
I have so far abstained form writing about public issues on this blog but however i am going to break this self imposed barricade and make an effort to look into the issues that is very close to my heart. The issue is of providing basic civic amenities not just to the rural folks but mor importantly to a very large chucnk of society that is neglected but today is growing at an alarming rate:- The URBAN POOR.
Increasing development has lead to people from villages migrating from villages to the ever expanding cities/towns. The rate of influx of these people has over shot the rate at which investments are being made to improve the civic infrastructues.
The reason i am writing this post is that i recently was in my home town for about 10 days during which i got an opportunity to walk around the city, explore all the neighbourhoods & speak to the residents so as to understand the problems that they face. The needs came across almost similar across localities.
The need for proper housing, drainage & lighting seem to be on top priority on every one's mind. Rains play havoc in the lives of these people as their houses are washed away and they are staranded without any help. This is mainly due to the lack of pukka housing & proper drainage system; more importantly - improper city planning. Agreed that most of the structures are illegal settlements/encrochments, the growing cities have just forced them to build tentative settlements.
The governments down south have come up with very good housing schemes for urban poor under the Ashraya Scheme, but alas the implementation gets very slow een with the availability of funds as the real estate prices have gone through the roof & no body is willing to sell it to the government as it would mean selling land at the existing government valued rates(rates that are always undercoated so as to evade stamp duty during transaction & muncipal taxes) which is less than the market rates. So the land owner delines to sell the land to goverment authorites. In that sense the program is postponed to the next yer
Increasing development has lead to people from villages migrating from villages to the ever expanding cities/towns. The rate of influx of these people has over shot the rate at which investments are being made to improve the civic infrastructues.
The reason i am writing this post is that i recently was in my home town for about 10 days during which i got an opportunity to walk around the city, explore all the neighbourhoods & speak to the residents so as to understand the problems that they face. The needs came across almost similar across localities.
The need for proper housing, drainage & lighting seem to be on top priority on every one's mind. Rains play havoc in the lives of these people as their houses are washed away and they are staranded without any help. This is mainly due to the lack of pukka housing & proper drainage system; more importantly - improper city planning. Agreed that most of the structures are illegal settlements/encrochments, the growing cities have just forced them to build tentative settlements.
The governments down south have come up with very good housing schemes for urban poor under the Ashraya Scheme, but alas the implementation gets very slow een with the availability of funds as the real estate prices have gone through the roof & no body is willing to sell it to the government as it would mean selling land at the existing government valued rates(rates that are always undercoated so as to evade stamp duty during transaction & muncipal taxes) which is less than the market rates. So the land owner delines to sell the land to goverment authorites. In that sense the program is postponed to the next yer
posted by Kallappa @ 12:41 PM
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