Post-merger with housing board, Gujarat Slum Clearance Board suffers from identity crisis

Under the Sight and Service Scheme, the GSCB constructed more than 33,000 houses on the fringes of cities like Vatva, Vinjal, Gota and Lamba. The houses were priced between Rs 100 and Rs 5,000. The GSCB had conducted studies in areas like Gulbai Tekra where a good number of houses could be constructed, but were not allowed to construct them.

After the state government decided to merge it with GHB, the GSCB was instructed to stop constructing houses. According to GSCB officials, the state government, in order to procure more finances from the World Bank and other financial institutions, stopped the old boards that were apparently causing losses to the government.

The GSCB today is a slum cell working under the GHB. The GHB, which had constructed about 1,40,000 houses for common people, stopped making houses for the LIG (low income group) and MIG (medium income group) 5 years ago.

The GSCB officials expressed their disappointment on the same. “Neither are they letting us construct houses for the poor nor are they doing it themselves. Why did the GHB stop making houses for the LIG? Our Sight and Service Scheme can still work today, where the poor have to pay Rs 100 initially to find shelter. But the government wants to promote schemes that cost them lakhs,” they said.

M M Jivani, the Housing Commissioner, said: “The GSCB is not a board anymore and the entity has been reduced to a slum cell within the GHB. They are supposed to maintain and collect rent for the houses they had constructed. It was the state government’s decision.”

When asked about the housing board projects, Jivani added: “The GHB has stopped making houses for a long time now. But now, we are planning to revive the board. We have a lot of land with us. We are starting new projects in a few big cities of Gujarat and for the urban populace; but we have the urban poor in mind too.”

Jivani affirmed the issue of overlapping of slum cells and other bodies working for urban poor in the state. But he added that each of them is a separate entity and work within their purview. The officials of the GSCB have proposed parallel work between AUDA, AMC, GHB and other bodies to bring concrete changes in the city.

Last year, the Chennai Slum Clearance Board received Rs 140 crore from the Central government. When states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are renovating the Slum Clearance Boards, the GSCB is still searching for its identity.

GSCB’s woes
* The staffers of the Gujarat Slum Clearance Board are still being paid salaries according to the fourth pay commission.
* The GSCB is functioning from its Lal Darwaja office, where the board is still maintaining and managing court matters of their previous projects. There are 22 staffers in the Board.
* The Sight and Service Scheme of GSCB included a minimum expenditure from the slum dwellers, starting from Rs 100 and the provision to pay in instalments and avail of all the facilities of physical infrastructure. But the scheme was stopped.