Week after demolition drive, civic body gives in-principle nod to resettle people evicted from Ahmedabad’s Chandola lake
AMC currently has 10,000 EWS houses under construction, says AMC Standing Committee Chairman; those who had been living there since before 2010 can apply with proof
4 min read
Pre-cast walls being put up by AMC (Express/Bhupendra Rana)The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Thursday gave in-principle approval to a plan for the resettlement of residents who had been living in and around Chandola lake in encroachments since before 2010.
In a statement on Thursday, the civic body, which recently conducted its first survey of the encroachments on the city’s largest water body after razing 4,000 residential and commercial structures, said that the size of the entire lake area is 11 lakh square metres of which 4 lakh square metres was under encroachment. It said that 1.5 lakh square metres of these encroachments had been cleared, leaving 2.5 lakh square metres with 10,000 estimated structures still pending.
On the resettlement decision, the AMC statement said, “In its meeting on May 8, the Standing Committee gave in-principle approval for alternate housing to be provided to those residents of Chandola lake, who have been there since before December 1, 2010. Having obtained permission from the state government, these residents will be given EWS category houses under the heading of Affordable Housing In-Partnership in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) (Urban) under certain conditions.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devang Dani, who is also the Chairman of the Standing Committee, said, “Those who have proof of living there since before 2010, according to the state government guidelines, can go to our ward office in Danilimda, fill the form and submit two proofs of residence before the cut-off date.”
The other condition is that the annual family income of potential beneficiaries must be below Rs 3 lakh per annum.
He said, “Those who are found eligible will be granted 70 square metres EWS housing after passing the proposal in the General Board of the AMC and sending it to the state government. The cost is set at Rs 3 lakh per house. Those who are eligible and ready to pay will be allotted the houses.”
The Indian Express had, in a report published on May 5, pointed out how the AMC did not have a plan for people evicted from Chandola talav na chhapra. The report also pointed out how the AMC had not followed the Gujarat Slum Rehabilitation Policy, section 13 of which pertains to “Rehabilitation of the Project Affected Persons and Other Eligible Slum Dwellers”.
The AMC budget for 2025-26, while stating that waterfront development will take place on the lakes, said, “There is a need to rehabilitate those living in the untenable areas of lakes.” It further stated, “There are about 10,000 kutcha and pucca houses in and around the various lakes. They will be integrated into the PMAY -2 project…”
When asked whether the resettlement of residents was the original plan all along, Dani said, “There was a survey back in 2015 by the Collector according to which 8,000 people were living around Chandola lake and on the basis of that, we have approved this plan.” Notably, according to the AMC’s own counting, there were 14,000 structures at the lake before the first phase of three-day demolitions conducted between April 29 and May 1.
When asked how many EWS houses were available in Ahmedabad city, the Standing Committee Chairman said, “We have about 10,000 houses under construction and they will be ready in about 12 months. In any case, the filing of forms and proof verification will take some time.”
On May 5, in a press conference, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil had also demanded alternate housing for those being evicted from the Chandola Lake premises.
You May Like
Photos
