The Centre’s plan of ensuring affordable housing for all under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) by 2022 seems to not be on the priority list of the State government. In the Steel City, affordable housing projects of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) for slum dwellers have been stuck in a limbo without any visible progress.
RMC’s affordable housing project-1 (AHP-1), which envisages construction of 800 houses for slum dwellers of Dhamra Basti, Koel Bank and Ambedkar Nagar has already been approved but is yet to be implemented. Similarly, under AHP-2, another 800 housing units will be constructed for slum dwellers of Haripur Basti, Malgodam, Ambedkar Nagar, BPUT Basti and Pradhan Colony. The project is awaiting government approval.
RMC Deputy Commissioner Sudhanshu Bhoi hoped that the AHP-1 will be implemented soon. Both AHP 1 and 2 would come up near the housing project of Rourkela Development Authority (RDA). He informed that under the Beneficiary-Led Construction (BLC) scheme, 714 PMAY-U beneficiaries with own land have already constructed houses.
The RMC had earmarked 36 acre of land at Madhusudanpali for rehabilitation of around 4,900 families. However, the proposal is lying in cold storage. In early 2021, RMC had surveyed and identified around 6,100 residents of 55 slums located on land of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) for provision of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing units. These people would be evicted for further expansion of RSP.
Similarly, an approved AHP of RDA for 720 EWS housing units at Chhend Colony for slum dwellers of Ambedkar Basti, Haripur Basti, Gangadharpali and Kumbharpada is yet to go for tender. However, a low-cost housing project of RDA has gained pace after a wait of nearly six years. In 2017, the RDA had floated tender for construction of 500 housing units at Chhend Colony over 3.30 acre with private participation.
Though construction started late, nearly 50 per cent work have been completed now. Slum dwellers of Mantola, Banglatola and Panposh will benefit from the project. The under-construction RDA project coming up at a cost of around Rs 29 crore is the first for Rourkela under the ‘Policy for Housing for All in Urban Areas, Odisha, 2015.
