Blame-game over delayed slum rehab project

NASHIK: The fate of a Rs 4-crore slum rehabilitation project at Survey 90, Shivaji Nagar, Satpur, hangs in balance as the local corporator has blamed the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). NGOs in the city said while the corporator, Dinkar Patil, was insisting on the project, the municipal commissioner had not made it clear if it would be executed.
The NGOs had objected to the hacking of trees at the site in May last year. "The project was cancelled after 10,900 objections from NGOs, probably the highest in the state and even the country. We had even spoken to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar about the issue," activist Vasudha Phalke said.
"The corporator is obstinate although almost all NGOs in the city came together to stop the dubious project," said Mandar Oltikar, another activist.Maharashtra Navnirman Sena legislator Nitin Bhosale, who raised a calling attention motion on the issue last year, said that 1,916 out of over 4,000 trees would face the axe.
"If the place is not for slum rehabilitation, why call for tenders?" asked Bhosale. A contract of Rs 4.65 crore was okayed although the land was not in the NMC’s possession, Bhosale claimed. "It seems their only intention was siphoning off funds. The NMC should take back the money from the contractor immediately. An offence should be registered against the municipal corporation," he said.
Municipal commissioner B D Sanap said the project in the new place will be transferred to the earlier contractor. He said the space was reserved for housing and a hospital for the poor, "but trees were planted by the NMC without planning".
He said space was not available when the time came to construct houses. "When we went to inaugurate the housing project in survey 91, we saw full-grown trees and cancelled the hospital project. Now, the district collector has given us space to construct houses, so this land may not be required."
He said they were seeking more land for the slum rehabilitation project from the collector so that the trees can be saved.
Bhosale said the corporator had planted trees in open spaces, which were likely to be cut during road-widening in future.
"It is a gimmick to siphon off funds. Women from self-help groups have been assigned the task of nurturing the trees and they are being paid for it. This is a trick to put poor women at the forefront and take money. I will raise another calling attention motion this winter session. ," he said. "The beneficiaries have not been finalized, they wanted them from various pockets. But this being far away from the city, no slum-dweller will be willing to go there. According to the Rajiv Gandhi slum rehabilitation scheme, houses for poor are to be constructed where slums exist," Bhosale said. Patil, while agreeing that the beneficiaries were not decided, said the trees he planted on either side of the road in his ward would not be felled during road-widening.
Sanap said the trees will not be cut at present but he did not rule out that possibility during road-widening in future. He did not make it clear if the project was likely to be carried out in future at Survey 90.