Assistant Commissioners of 24 wards asked to address infrastructure needs
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The Integrated Slum Development Programme (ISDP) scheme that was taken up by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 2014 has not seen any progress yet. While the Slum Rehabilitation Authority has surveyed slums in the city that need development, the civic body has been working to fill the infrastructure gap.
However, now, the civic body is planning reforms in the ISDP scheme. The conditions to carry out this scheme have been relaxed, and the Assistant Commissioners of the 24 wards have been mandated to finalise the work, following due diligence and due process of approval.
Many civic amenities such as proper water supply, storm water drain system and sewer lines are lacking in slum areas. It was under this scheme, that the BMC was supposed to ensure that basic infrastructure reaches slum dwellers. But owing to difference in data regarding population in slum areas and haphazard infrastructure details collected by the officials, the civic body was unable to give any relief or carry out the scheme.
The assistant commissioners will now have to personally look into the issues of the slums and redress their problems. In the 2014 Budget, around Rs 50 crore was allotted for this purpose.
A civic official said, "We have been instructed by the municipal commissioner to look into the problems of the slums along with our regular work and work towards the integrated slum development programme. If needed, we can also take help from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority as they have mapped slums in the city and have ward-wise slum-centric data available with them."
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