Corporations in State asked to submit plans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government has asked the five Corporations in the state to submit a detailed slum-free urban development plan as part of implementing the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The directive was given by Aruna Sundararajan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, at a workshop of state officials of Rajiv Awas Yojana held here on Saturday.RAY aims to tackle the problems of the slum-dwellers and the urban poor with the help of the respective state governments. The detailed plan should include surveying and mapping of the existing slums in the five corporation areas, assessment of the growth of the cities with a 20-year perspective, necessary legislative and administrative changes required for urban land expansion, changes proposed in the town planning regulations and actions to obtain commensurate land. The joint secretary said that the Centre has decided to spend Rs 5000 crore in the next two years under RAY across the country. The Centre would provide financial assistance to states to assign property rights to slum dwellers for provision of shelter and basic civic and social services for slum development. Aruna Sundararajan also expressed satisfaction at the progress made by the five Corporations - Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode-  towards implementing Rajiv Awas Yojana and explained different phases of the project implementation right from the planning stages