Scheme for canal bund dwellers on slow track

VIJAYAWADA: The proposed housing scheme for the rehabilitation of canal bund encroachers in the city is in jeopardy.
Both the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and the Vijayawada- Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority are unable to say whether the scheme will be completed by October 2, 2003, as per the deadline set by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Two months have elapsed since Naidu directed the VMC and the UDA to launch the scheme on a war footing, but so far it has not moved an inch. It was proposed to build 8,000 houses under the Valmiki-Ambedkar Aawas Yojana (Vambay), at a total cost of Rs 40 crore, for rehabilitation of families that have encroached the three main canal bunds in the city.
The families will be evicted from the three canal bunds as part of the beautification drive. The rehabilitation programme is part of the chief minister''s development package for the city and Naidu has directed the civic authorities to complete it within a year from October 2, 2002.
Ironically, neither the UDA nor the VMC authorities have explained the rehabilitation project to the families even as all political parties raised a hue and cry over the move. The parties are opposing the eviction fearing that the government may not ensure rehabilitation as promised.
Though the state government issued a GO four months ago allocating 77 acres of VMC site at Payakapuram for the housing project, the civic body has not yet handed over the site to the UDA for levelling. The site has to be levelled up to three feet as it is in a low-lying area.
"Unless we get a formal letter from the VMC handing over the site,we cannot take up the levelling work. We have asked the VMC for the letter but so far nothing has come through," said a senior UDA official.
When questioned about the delay, VMC commissioner Praveen Prakash told The Times of India that the state government had issued fresh orders last week over the issue and the site would soon be handed over to the UDA.
In fact, the two wings of the municipal administration and urban development department are now at loggerheads over the issue.
Meanwhile, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) has sent back the project report, submitted by the VMC commissioner, as it was not routed through a proper channel.
The project report should have been first submitted to the AP Housing Corporation from where it would be forwarded to the Hudco regional office in Hyderabad which, in turn,would send it to the Hudco head office. However, the commissioner handed over the file directly to the Hudco authorities in New Delhi recently because of which it was sent back, top official sources told The Times of India.
The project report will now have to be studied by a high-level committee in Hyderabad and forwarded to the Hudco headquarters. This procedural delay may hit the Vambay project and it may not be completed as per schedule.