Free homes for civic conservancy staff

The government’s decision,made by the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on October 19,2007,followed reports in The Indian Express earlier that month highlighting the pathetic conditions in which conservancy staff in Pune lived and worked.

In 2008,the state government directed civic bodies to provide,under the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Shramsafalya Awas Yojana,free dwelling units with a carpet area of 269 sq ft to eligible conservancy staff. The Maharashtra government said it would reserve for conservancy workers 15 per cent of houses in Low Income Group Housing,Integrated Housing and Slums Development Programme (IHSDP),Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and in surplus flats under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.

On Tuesday,the PMC administration tabled before the standing committee a proposal to allot to conservancy workers 15 per cent of houses developed under JNNURM’s slum rehabilitation project. It was approved unanimously.

“The conservancy staff has been working in pathetic conditions and the state government taking their efforts into consideration decided to allot them houses at a lease of 99 years,” the proposal said. The slum rehabilitation scheme is ready at Warje and Hadapsar,it said.

“The committee has approved the civic administration’s proposal to allot 15 per cent tenement in its slum rehabilitation project for the conservancy staff,” standing committee chairman Baburao Chandere said on Tuesday.

The kin of conservancy staff who had died after having served for at least 25 years too would be eligible,he said. Staff who retired before 2008,when the government directive was passed,would not,however,qualify.

The lessee will have no right to transfer the allotted property,which can only be inherited,Chandere said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had,as Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment,written to the Chief Minister on the plight of conservancy workers.

A visit to Pune by an official team led by union social justice secretary Arvind Prasad had followed.