At least 37% of the state’s 582 slum areas are placed next to streams or rivers, states a report of the Uttarakhand slum reforms committee published beginning this year. The regularisation of a large number of slums that are placed adjacent to the edges of the Ganga and its branches is likely to pose a legal tangle for the Congress-led state government.
Earlier this month, the green panel the state government to map the Ganga’s floodplain, which includes areas nearby to the river that is likely to get flooded in case of high water discharge. The government has to file an assent report in the matter by October.
Of the 7.7 lakh slum dwellers in the state, at least 2.5 lakh people live in slums on the edges of rivers or seasonal streams.
In July, the state assembly announced the legislation to regularise slums that were set up before March 2016, under which land ownership rights will be granted to slum residents at their current locations.
Experts said the state government’s move to regularise slums in the floodplains, is likely to cause a legal roadblock in the light of the NGT’s order.
In short, we can conclude,
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami accepted a proposal of the Urban Development Department through a cabinet meeting, wherein about 584 illegal slums of the state would not be transferred till 2024. Around 11 lakh people are living in 1.80 lakh houses in the unauthorised slums across the state. Earlier, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the removal of these settlements.
