NEW DELHI: The city government has set in motion the process to remove 33 slums from different parts of the city — bulldozers will start rolling into the slums from October. Clearing the air on the status of residents of these slums, urban development minister Raj Kumar Chauhan made the stand clear after a review — led by chief minister Sheila Dikshit — that the 6,738 people found eligible out 10,017 applicants will be relocated to flats developed for the economically weaker sections in areas like Bawana and Narela.

The other slum dwellers, consisting of nearly 58%, will either have to present documents to make the cut or fend for themselves. Incidentally, the decision on removal of slums and the attempt to yet again expedite the much delayed allotment process for the 9,600 odd flats in areas like Narela and Bawana comes two days after the Lokayukta, Justice Manmohan Sarin, indicted the chief minister for misrepresenting facts while announcing that 60,000 flats were ready for EWS category under the Rajiv Ratna Awaas Yojana in the run–up to the 2008 assembly polls in Delhi.

Slum “rehabilitation” is moving forward in Delhi. 58% of the residents of the currently demolished slum will have no real option for where to live, meaning that they’ll simply resettle in another, probably even poorer slum. How could that sort of intervention even remotely be labeled a “solution”?

Read the full article at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Bulldozers-set-to-raze-33-slums… .