A large number of people including residents of slum settlements and Congress members took out a, “Abhaar Rally” in Dehradun to express gratitude to the State Government for initiating the regularisation of slum settlements in Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Harish Rawat was felicitated at a programme held in the town hall to thank the Government headed by him apart from which Rajpur Road MlA Rajkumar, who is also the state slum settlement development committee chairman, along with slum residents and his supporters took out a rally from the municipal corporation of Dehradun compound.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the slum settlement regularisation law was made in order to provide basic facilities in such settlements and to provide ownership rights to the persons living there. The process for regularisation of slum settlements has been started. Rawat said, “Not only have we made provision in this year’s budget for systematisation of slum settlements but are also creating a corpus fund of `400 crore. For the dalits and most backward sections of society four housing schemes are being initiated named after Maharshi Valmiki, Maharshi Raidas, Khushiram Arya and Jayanand Bharti. About 20,000 residential units are slated to be constructed in total under these four schemes in a period of three years.
Apart from this, work on the river front development project is also going on with the drainage system being improved in the area,” said the CM. He further elaborated upon the various measures taken and planned by the State Government. The number of pension beneficiaries which was about 1.74 lakh in 2014 has been increased to 7.25 lakh beneficiaries with amount of the pension also being raised from `400 to `1,000. He also informed the gathering about the different categories introduced to bring a broad range of persons under the ambit of the pension facility. Rajpur Road MlA Rajkumar also addressed the gathering on the occasion.