Apartments for slum dwellers soon

HUBLI: Soon some parts of the city will be free from slum areas as the government has decided to construct apartments for slum dwellers in Hubli-Dharwad twin cities.
When the railway doubling work was taken up in 2006, about 3,000 families of Gandiwada, Kanya Nagar slums shifted to other areas. To rehabilitate them, now the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) plans to construct 1,072 flats in five localities in the twin cities.This follows the government's decision to make the state free from slums.
The board is taking up the apartment construction work at a cost of Rs 67 crore and it has called for tenders to start the work in five identified layouts in the twin cites under the Rajiv Awas Yojana housing scheme.
H Manju, executive engineer, KSDB, Dharwad division, said that initially three sites at Bandiwada, Kusugal and Keshwapur area in Hubli and two sites at Danunagar Attikoll and Navalur in Dharwad were identified to construct flats.
According to the plan, five layouts will be developed and three-storied apartments (G+3) will come up in 32 blocks. The built-up area of a flat will be 300 sqft, he added.
These small flats will consist of a single bedroom, kitchen, hall, bathroom, separate toilet, and a balcony.
As per the town planning norms, about 25% of the area has been kept free for hospitals, community hall, park and other civic amenities. These new layouts will be provided with all basic amenities like good roads, underground drainage facility, electricity and park space.
According to sources, tenders will be awarded by the end of December and construction of new apartments will be completed within 12 months from the date of awarding the tender.
Fact file
There are 105 slums in Hubli-Dharwad twin cities. About 1.5 lakh people (14%) of twin cities population lives in slums. As for houses, 12% are in slum areas -- the number of houses in the twin cities is 2.34 lakh, which means 28,000 houses are in slum areas.