Emphasising that the State Government is committed to facilitating the regularisation of slum settlements, the Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy directed that district level committees headed by the District Magistrate should complete the task of listing slum settlements in a period of four days. The task of identification of families living in such settlements should be completed within a fortnight, directed the Chief Secretary while chairing a meeting with officials on Friday. Details of the meeting chaired by Ramaswamy were communicated to the media by the urban development secretary DS Garbyal later in the evening.
Addressing officials in the meeting, the Chief Secretary directed that work be undertaken on a war-footing in order to achieve the regularisation of slum settlements in a time-bound manner as envisioned by the state government. He directed all the district magistrates, additional district magistrates, officials of the municipal corporations, other local bodies and Panchayat to complete the task of identification of slum settlements in Uttarakhand in four days and to complete the task of identification of the slum settlement residents in 15 days. Ramaswamy directed the district magistrates to appoint retired and experienced staff for formation of additional teams for doubling the number of survey team members in order to enable completion of the tasks within the given time period.
later, addressing the media at the secretariat in the evening, the Urban Development Secretary DS Garbyal said that the report of the survey of slum settlements in the state was almost complete while about 40 per cent of the families residing in slum settlements had been identified and listed so far. He informed that the slum settlements are being listed under three categories starting with settlements safe for regularisation, settlements requiring partial works for improvement and the third category which comprises settlements on riverbeds, river banks and risk-prone sites from where they need to be relocated. Those living in the third category settlements will be relocated to safer locations for which the shelter will be ascertained before eviction of families. Garbyal said, “As directed, the task of categorisation of the slum settlements in Uttarakhand will be completed by November 29 after which the process will be initiated to issue a notification regarding the same.” When asked about the questions being raised about the validity of land ownership documents purportedly awarded to a selected number of slum settlement residents, the urban development secretary said that the slum dwellers in question had been given letter of intent by the state government stating conditions to be observed. After the district level committees headed by the district magistrates submit the survey report and related documentation, those found eligible according to categorisation of the slum settlements will be awarded land ownership rights to plots which cannot be sold for a period of the initial 10 years, he said.