Punjab CM gives proprietary rights to 3,245 slum dwellers

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered proprietary rights for 3,245 slum households in three districts under the BASERA scheme, with directives to complete the process of grant of such rights to a total of 40,000 households by September.

Chairing the second meeting of the Empowered Committee under the Chief Minister's Slum Development Programme - 'BASERA', Singh asked the department concerned to expedite the process of verification and grant of proprietary rights in order to benefit the maximum slum-dwellers in the state.

He reviewed the progress made so far under the scheme by various districts.

The 3,245 households approved for proprietary rights are located at 12 slum sites in the districts of Faridkot, Sangrur and Fazilka.

Till date, 186 slums having 21,431 households have been identified in 20 districts, wherein the verification process is being carried out full swing, the Chief Minister was informed.

The virtual meeting was further apprised that the verification of 25,000 households shall be completed within the next two months and the process of granting proprietary rights to eligible slum-dwellers shall be initiated simultaneously.

The verification of 40,000 households will be completed by September, it was decided at the meeting.

The Empowered Committee, at the two meetings held so far, has given approvals, under the scheme, for 21 slums involvingA 4705 households, spread over Moga, Bathinda, Fazilka, Patiala, Sangrur and Faridkot districts.

The identification of another 186 slums, involving approximately 22,000 households, is currently underway.

The scheme, aimed at helping slum-dwellers realise their dream of owning a home, was launched in January this year by the Chief Minister as aA visionary step towards towards inclusive urban development and planning.

Punjab is the first state in the country to launch such a scheme for conferring proprietary rights to every slum household occupying state government land in a slum in any urban area on the date of notification of The Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Act, 2020, i.e., April 1, 2020.

A total of 1 lakh slum-dwellers will benefit in the first phase of the scheme, which will be extended later to other districts.

Rvery slum household occupying land in a slum in any urban area on the date of notification of the Act is eligible under the scheme.

However, the beneficiaries will not be permitted to alienate the transferred land for 30 years.