Corporations told to submit plans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government has asked the five Corporations in the state to submit a detailed slumfree urban development plan as part of implementing the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The directive was given by Aruna Sundarajan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, at a workshop of state officials of RAY held here on Saturday.
RAY aims to tackle the problems of the slumdwellers and the urban poor with the help of the respective state governments. The detailed plan should include surveying and mapping of the existing slums in the five corporation areas, assessment of the growth of the cities with a 20year perspective, necessary legislative and administrative changes required for urban land expansion, changes proposed in the town planning regulations and actions to obtain commensurate land. The joint secretary said that the Centre has decided to spend Rs 5000 crore in the next two years under RAY across the country. Aruna Sundararajan also expressed satisfaction at the progress made by the five Corporations Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode towards implementing RAY and explained different phases of the project implementation right from the planning stages.