Bengaluru: Under the JnNURM scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban poverty Alleviation, 27 families were relocated from Vijaya College slum in Ward No. 180 to ground-plus-three floor flats in Yarab Nagar on April 1, 2013.
Sanctions were given to construct houses in 2006-2007 at Rs 2.97 lakh per unit, but till now the construction has not begun, while the cost has escalated to Rs 5.46 lak per unit. This despite the government promising these slum dwellers that the houses would be constructed within six months. These families are now living in temporary sheds in unhealthy conditions. They don’t have basic amenities like drinking water, toilets and electricity. The children of these slum dwellers, with the support of Humara Bachpan Campaign, have appealed to the government to hand over their houses.
“I wake up early in the morning every day to take bath at the public tap in the open. We don’t even have drinking water and other necessities,” said one of the children. Another said, “I want to study hard and get good marks, but neither do I have books, nor our shed has electricity.”
Children from the slum have made repeated appeals to the BBMP and the Karnataka Slum Development Board to start the construction of the houses, but the authorities have failed to respond. A member of the Humara Bachpan Campaign said, “We approached the government authorities.
“I want to sleep under a roof where we don’t get wet when it rains,” said one of the children.
