‘Land acquisition a hurdle for RAY implementation’
From Our Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Meghalaya has supported the grand idea of a slum-free India through the maiden initiative of Rajiv Awas Yojana, but at the same time expressed difficulties to implement the same since the hill State, which falls under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, has massive problem of land acquisition and property rights and would also need large scale central assistance.
Speaking at the State Ministers’ Conference on Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) here, Minister for Urban Affairs Ms Amapreen Lyngdoh appreciated the Union Government’s vision of achieving a slum-free India.
“Our State is governed and administered under the provision of the Sixth Schedule which would, to a great extent, pose tremendous challenge to the matters of assigning property rights to the non-indigenous slum dwellers,” she pointed out.
But at the same time the State Land Transfer Act is also currently under active consideration for amendment so as to facilitate an amicable land tenement system especially for the non-indigenous citizens, the Minister added.
“Some sections of the ‘Model Property Rights’ to slum dweller will also remain a challenge in our State since most of the slums are located either on or around land owned by private individuals,” she said.
“Hence the proposal for the provision of basic service to eligible slum dwellers will be hijacked by the never-ending demands of these private land owners,” Ms Lyngdoh said, adding, “If committed in the Act, this might lead to legal entanglements in the event of a non-fulfillment of the commitment to slum dwellers due to constrain of financial resources especially for land acquisition for which we would need additional central assistance.”
Earlier, inaugurating the conference here, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja said the Rajiv Awas Yojana is literally a ‘RAY’ of hope for the urban poor and slum dwellers of the country. RAY envisions an inclusive and equitable urban India where every citizen has access to the basic civic and social services and decent shelter, she added.
The Minister said that the Union Government is now following a rights-based approach to address the fundamental inequities affecting the poor.
RAY builds on that holistic rights based framework and establishes the rights of urban poor and slum dwellers for decent shelter and basic services in the cities, she said.
Commenting on the successful implementation of JNNURM schemes in the State, Ampareen said the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode could be an option for a more holistic workable plan of action for the implementation of RAY.
The Minister also sought relaxations in the Forest & Environment Laws that will facilitate acquisition of land for the relocation of slum dwellers. The State Government has also initiated the slum surveys in the mission city and formed state- and city-level technical cell, for this purpose, Ampareen said.
“We have formulated the Meghalaya Building Bye-Law wherein we have earmarked and reserved 25% of developed land in all group for cluster housing as well as residential townships for the economically weaker section of the people,” she added.