Maya plans civic facilities for Dalit slums

Announcing the scheme on behalf of the chief minister,Cabinet secretary Sashank Shekhar Singh said it will be completed by March 31,2012. The Assembly elections are due in February 2012.

He said Mayawati had decided to launch the scheme after her inspection of all 72 districts of the state. She had found that the Dalits in urban areas have been denied their share in development even after over six decades of Independence.

In the first phase,250 slum colonies will be selected for development. The work in the rest will be taken up after the first phase is over.

The colonies will be selected by a committee headed by the divisional commissioner/district magistrate in each district. The development masterplan will be prepared by the Chief town and country planner.

Besides urban infrastructure,the residents will be given the benefit of schemes like old age pension,family pension,widow pension and pension to the physically challenged persons and benefit under National Special Assistance Programme.

The urban amenities will include drinking water,sewerage,drainage,solid waste management,electrification and street lights. Besides,the cabinet secretary said,the selected slum colonies will have mother and child healthcare centers. Apart from providing basic health facilities,these centers will also provide immunisation and birth and death registration facilities and implement national health programmes for controlling blindness,tuberculosis and leprosy.

Primary schools are also proposed to be set up in the selected colonies,where students will receive all scholarships for SC,OBCs,minorities and general category students.

The residents will also be given ration cards under Public Distribution System.

The cabinet secretary said a scheme for providing ownership rights of land in slum areas for the SC is already under implementation,the residents of the selected slum colonies will also get the benefits of various employment generation schemes like Swarn Jayanti Sahri Rojgar Yojna,PM Rojgar Yojna and others implemented by the SC,OBC and Minority Welfare departments.

The cabinet secretary said there is no dearth of funds for the scheme as most of the components will be funded from the budget provision made in grants of other departments. Any further requirement will be met by the supplementary budget,he added.