Faridabad smart city only a dream as slums a major eyesore

FARIDABAD: The only city from the state proposed to be included in the Union governments list of 100 Smart Cities is entangled in a maze of slums threatening its entry to the elite league of such cities

Updated At : 06:11 AM Jan 03, 2015 IST

<p>A slum cluster in Faridabad. Tribune photo</p>

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 2

The only city from the state proposed to be included in the Union government’s list of ‘100 Smart Cities’, is entangled in a maze of slums, threatening its entry to the elite league of such cities.

Faridabad, with its population of 20 lakh has a sizeable chunk of people residing in slums and unauthorised colonies. The Town and Country Planning Department’s plan to shift these slum-dwellers to housing projects developed across the city appears to be a distant dream, courtesy short supply to meet the requirement.

While the authorities are still to receive any official communication regarding the parameters of a smart city, it is however claimed that technology-based efficient governance, better mobility and energy conservation will be among the parameters of the Modi Government’s ambitious ‘100 smart cities’ project.

A recent Frost and Sullivan report identifies eight key aspects that define a smart city – smart governance, smart energy, smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart healthcare and smart citizens.

Admitting that slums were a major issue to be addressed to make any plan successful on infrastructural grounds, Satish Parasher, chief town planner of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation claimed there were around 2.5 lakh persons residing in slums, who were required to be shifted to properly-developed residential colonies.

He said the smart city plan was being launched by the Union Ministry of Urban Development and any plan of action in this regard was still to be received at the local level. “The Faridabad Municipal Corporation had built around 2,800 flats for poor in Bapu Nagar and Dabua colony, but has managed to allot only 200 units so far, while the demand for such flats runs into several lakhs, if all the slum areas are to be cleared,” said KL Gera, a social activist.

Claiming that around five lakh people reside in slum clusters and unauthorised colonies, Gera asked how the authorities could shift all slum-dwellers in a few thousand flats?

“The slums have even put a question mark on the success of the cleanliness drive launched by the state government,” said Devender Singh, a retired official, who said the civic conditions continue to remain poor.

According to data from NGOs over 30 acres of land is occupied by slum clusters, whose market value is around Rs 200 crores. The state government had recently announced to construct 48,000 housing units for the poor in the city.