Over 36K houses handed over to slum dwellers across state

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: As many as 36,789 houses were handed over to the slum dwellers across Karnataka by the State government on Saturday.

As a part of the programme, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handed over 480 houses to beneficiaries in the Nagareshwara Nagenahalli locality in Bengaluru on Saturday.

This was the first installment of the 1,047 houses to be built in the area. Possession letters and relevant documents were borne by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board and handed over as well.

These were a part of the larger plan to build 1,80,253 houses for the poor across 28 districts of the state.

A few colonies behind Bhartiya City were inaugurated by Siddaramaiah along with Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan. The scheme aims to provide basic amenities to the poor.

The slum board has been allocated Rs 13,275 crores and has been given the responsibility of building 180,253 houses.

Of this, Rs 2,704 crores is granted by the Union Government and Rs 2,895 crores is the State Government's share. Local government chipped in with Rs 218 crores as well.

Food, education, housing priority: CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the State government prioritized “anna, akshara, sooru” (food, education and housing) for the poor.

The extension of “anna and akshara” (food and literacy) to marginalized caste persons has roots in the anti-caste humanist traditions of Karnataka.