Rourkela BJP MlA Dilip Ray has lamented that while the State Government has provided houses to the slum dwellers of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Brahmapur Municipal Corporations in the coastal belt, no house was built for the slum dwellers of two major western Odisha cities like Rourkela and Sambalpur.
Replying to a question of Ray in the Assembly on Friday, Housing and Urban Development Minister Niranjan Pujari informed that the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, with highest 436 slums and 3, 01,611 inhabitants, has got 191 houses for the slum dwellers. Similarly, there are 129 slums under the Rourkela Municipal Corporation with 1, 70,483 inhabitants and no house has been provided to the people in the slums. In the Cuttack Municipal Corporation, there are 264 slums with 1, 29,471 inhabitants and these slum dwellers have got 687 houses. The highest of 1,158 houses have been provided to the slum dwellers of the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation with 163 slums and 71,211 inhabitants. In Sambalpur Muncipal Corporation, there are 171 slums with1, 11,928 inhabitants, where, however, no houses have been provided. Ray demanded the Govern-ment provide houses in the Rourkela and Sambalpur slums, besides road, electricity, drinking water, ration card, school and hospital on a priority basis.