BENGALURU: Stating that the Housing Department under Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan has failed to give land ownership rights to over 1.25 lakh poor families, mostly from SC/ST communities and has done very little for the urban poor, many organisations involved with slum development protested at Freedom Park on Monday.
A Narasimha Murthy from Slum Janandolana Karnataka said that some officials in the department are pro-rich and are against slums and do not move any files. Zameer Ahmed too has done nothing for slum development, he alleged.
“Under him, the development and welfare measures have not progressed. Like in Telangana and Maharashtra, we want a separate ministry to look after slum development,” he said.
Out of 3.36 lakh families in slums, only 1.64 lakh families have been given land ownership rights under the “rights allocation” scheme implemented in 2020. “As the Karnataka Slum Development Board is completing 50 years, Rs 5,000 crore should be allocated in the current budget of 2025-26 for the development of slums,” Murthy stated.
The activists demanded the government should resume declaring private areas as slums as this would give them a better life and opportunity. The activists also demanded that housing complexes being built for slum dwellers under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the state should be completed soon.