Slum dwellings can’t be removed forcibly, 1975 model was failure: Minister Puri

NEW DELHI:Slum dwellings or informal settlements in cities cannot be removed or lifted
‘forcibly’ as the model tried during Emergency in 1975 had failed, the Lok Sabha was told on Tuesday.

Making the observation, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri during Question Hour sought to criticise the Congress regime of the past and said – “Slums are not created because of executive action; slums arise because of bad policies followed by governments”.

Answering to supplementary questions from Mohammad Salim (CPI-M), Aparupa Poddar (Trinamool), Krupal Balaji Tumane (Shiv Sena) and Kirit Somaiya (BJP), the Minister said – “In 1975 there was an attempt made to resettle the people living in slums. There was a curtailment of civil liberties and efforts made to move the people elsewhere”.

“But one lesson that we have learnt in this robust and vibrant democracy is that, when you want to do slum rehabilitation, you must rehabilitate people on an ‘as-is-where-is’…..That is the model we are following in Delhi in the case of Katputli Colony,” he said.

Mr Puri said – “We cannot lift people forcibly from the areas where they live, take them and resettle them 100 kms away”.

He also clarified that the land and colonisation are state subjects and therefore “it is primarily the responsibility of states and Union Territories.

However, he said the government of India through its programmes and various schemes such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Swachh Bharat Mission has been making efforts by assisting the states.

But the proposals should come from the states, he said.

(AGENCIES)

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