Times
of India: Dehradun: Sunday, 31 August 2014.
A student
activist group working for social change had filed an RTI to get accountability
from the government for a task force that was set up for rehabilitating
Uttarakhand's slums within four months from mid February to mid June.
Abhijay Negi,
founder of the activist group 'Making a Difference- By being the difference'
said, "We filed the RTI to secretary (urban development) DS Gabriyal on
July 21 . All we want is government accountability on the many promises it has
made in the past but kept none of them."
He said,
"Under the guidance of the former urban development secretary, M H Khan, a
notification was issued on February 10, to form the task force. The period for
this force to function has lapsed and the RTI has revealed that nothing
concrete has been done."
As per the
response to the RTI, directions were given to seek few queries from Mussoorie
Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and the Dehradun Municipal
Corporation(DMC).
The MDDA
response states that the number of slum areas in Dehradun has increased from
102 to 118 as of today and the population has increased from 1,11,000 to
1,51,000.
The RTI
response, which was received in the early August also mentions various central
government schemes like Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) which envisages a 'Slum Free
India'. "According to various schemes, homes will be given only to those
who are not residing in illegal encroachments. But majority of the slum
dwellers live on illegal land. Government needs to come out with a transparent
policy to address this issue." said Negi.
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