Smart city plan for Ahmedabad: Sabaramti Ashram area to get facelift, includes 8,000 slum dwellings

While new houses under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing scheme will replace the existing slum on both the sides of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) route, starting from Vadaj circle, the area behind this will have a huge garden measuring up to 60 acre.

The slum area-based redevelopment will have two components — development of transit-oriented zones built on the principle of promoting non-motorised transport and provisions of smart infrastructure and the second component of in-situ redevelopment of slum area that will include residential and commercial components to be developed on a private-public-partnership (PPP) model.

“Among the feedback and suggestions invited from city residents through various mediums to choose among these area options, Sabarmati Ashram received the maximum votes. Also, this would give us an opportunity to develop a huge park spread over 60 acre,” said AMC commissioner D Thara. The other three areas that AMC shortlisted for redevelopment included Bopal-Ambli, Kathwada and Central Business District (CBD) on Ashram Road.

Welcoming this move, slum dwellers residing in this area for decades are hoping the redevelopment also provides them other utilities too apart from offering only housing facility. The majority of them are potters, waste-paper collectors, street vendors and daily wage labourers. “It would be good for us if this area is redeveloped and we are provided new houses,” said Shankar Parmar, 70, who relocated to Ramapir no tekra from the Eastern city parts of Shahpur in 1970s after the riots broke out in the city.

Sharing the concern of relocating the dwellers, another resident from the potter community, Ramlal Prajapati (50), who now owns a small house in this area and came from Jamnagar 35 years back, said, “But what if they ask us to move somewhere else, to a completely new place where we do not know the people around.”

While Kanchan Prajapati from the same community – who lives in a two-room house with an open area in front where they do pottery work – said, “The AMC will give us the house, but where will we get this open space for pottery work.”

As per AMC officials, the redevelopment will be undertaken under the EWS housing scheme where the dwellers would be provided one to two years of transit accommodation. “The AMC has already completed nearly 3,500 units under this scheme. This slum area redevelopment will include both residential and commercial areas, with convenience shopping, community centres, schools, anganwadi and health centre,” said assistant municipal commissioner Ramyakumar Bhatt who has been involved in drafting the Smart City proposal and also supervising the EWS housing scheme. The AMC is banking on the good connectivity and proximity to the CBD of Ahmedabad and Sabarmati Ashram for the success of this plan.