Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered proprietary rights for 3,245 slum households in three districts under the BASERA scheme, with directives to complete the process of grant of such rights to a total of 40,000 households by September this year.
Capt Amarinder, chairing the second meeting of the Empowered Committee under the Chief Minister’s Slum Development Programme – ‘BASERA’, asked the concerned Department to expedite the process of verification and grant of proprietary rights in order to benefit the maximum slum dwellers in the State. He reviewed the progress made so far under the scheme by various districts.
The 3,245 households approved for proprietary rights on Monday are located at 12 slum sites in the districts of Faridkot, Sangrur, and Fazilka.
Till date, 186 slums, having 21,431 slums households, have been identified in 20 districts, wherein the verification process is being carried out full swing, the Chief Minister was informed.
The virtual meeting was further apprised that the verification of 25,000 households shall be completed within the next two months and the process of granting proprietary rights to eligible slum dwellers shall be initiated simultaneously. The verification of 40,000 households shall be completed by September 2021, it was decided at the meeting.
The Empowered Committee, at the two meetings held so far, has given approvals, under the scheme, for 21 slums involving 4,705 households, spread over Moga, Bathinda, Fazilka, Patiala, Sangrur, and Faridkot districts. The identification of another 186 slums, involving approximately 22,000 households, is currently under way.
The scheme, aimed at helping slum dwellers realize their dream of owning a home, was launched in January this year by the Chief Minister as a visionary step towards inclusive urban development and planning.
Punjab is the first State in the country to launch such a scheme for conferring proprietary rights to every slum household occupying State Government land in a slum in any urban area on the date of notification of ‘The Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Act, 2020’, that is April 1, 2020.A total of one lakh slum dwellers will benefit in the first phase of the scheme, which will be extended later to other districts.
Every slum household occupying land in a slum in any urban area on the date of notification of ‘The Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Act, 2020’, is eligible under the scheme. However, the beneficiaries will not be permitted to alienate the transferred land for 30 years.