It’s free-for-all in Maya’s slum fest

These are some of the successful claimants among the slum-dwellers of Lucknow for the plots to be distributed by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA),which is working overtime to fulfill Chief Minister Mayawati’s pre-poll promise she made on her 53th birthday this year.

To be eligible to get land ownership under Mayawati’s Sarvajan Hitay Garib Avas Malikana Haq Yojna,a slum-dweller’s must not be in possession of over 33 sq m of the government land. Mishra,with 32.77 sq m under his possession,just about made it to the list of beneficiaries,never mind his annual income of Rs 78,600,which is way above the earning limit of a BPL card holder that is Rs 25,500 for urban areas and Rs 19,000 in rural areas.

Under the present scheme,land will be given on a 90-year lease at the rate of Rs 20 per sq m to all those slum-dwellers who have been living on the government land before January 15 this year.

A visit to a few of the 32 slums that have qualified for this scheme showed many of the claimants were at least as financially well-off as a urban middle class family. But thanks to the January 29 government order that waived the requirement of a claimant being a BPL card-holder,they all can rest easy with ownership rights on government land.

Around 110 teams comprising employees of development authorities and District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) are currently busy identifying all slum-dwellers in the state capital who possess less than 33 sq m area of land.

On Saturday,the teams started realising the land price from the slum-dwellers and issuing receipts to them.

The government’s scheme has come as a windfall even to those slum-dwellers who are financially sound,if not affluent.

Fro instance,Govind Tiwari,a forest employee whose house is equipped with a colour TV,sofa set and a music system,is now entitled to a government plot.

Ram Prasad,a permanent Class-IV employee in Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) who owns house no. 14/328 in Chittapurwa,too is a beneficiary. His bathroom is installed with a big water geyser. Prasad admits his annual income is up to Rs 72,000.

Prasad’s neighbour Ram Khelawan owns a double-storey house — no. 14/323. Khelawan is a retired government employee and he has a medium-size refrigerator in his house. He too will get land.

Similar is the case with slums at Janta Nagar. The amenities in some of the houses hardly sit well with the definition of a poor person.

For instance,house no. 208/320,owned by Kishwarjahan,a tailor by profession,has a washing machine in it. After measuring her house,LDA asked her to pay Rs 580 to get the land ownership rights. Her neighbour Janttul,who lives house No. 208/321,has two motor bikes in the family and has been asked to pay Rs 620.

Iltiza Hussain,who runs a zari work business in house no. 208/207,owns a bike and has other gadgets. The LDA has realised Rs 660 from him as price of land.

House no. 1/68 in the same slum is owned by Dr Shahab Ahmad,who runs his clinic from his house spread in an area of 22.5 square metres. Besides a motor bike,Dr Ahmad enjoys the cool air of a fancy air-cooler. He paid Rs 460 as price of land.

LDA secretary Mani Prasad Mishra,heading the survey in state capital,said,“If any person has facilities like vehicles and washing machines,he will not live in slums. But LDA will cross check the financial status of these dwellers after first phase of scheme. If they were found enjoying such facilities,government could cancel their land lease.”