Sabarmati riverfront evacuees still wait for houses

About 1,400-odd families, who were promised houses by January 2012 under the rehabilitation scheme of Sabarmati Riverfront Development, will now have to wait for another month to realise what they were promised.

Of the 1,400 families who were left out, Buch Committee has identified and approved only 709 families who have received allotment letters. But as the documentation process is still on, the beneficiaries will have to wait for another month.

The remaining beneficiaries are struggling to provide the required documents for gaining the possession of the houses. Once the documentation process gets over, the remaining beneficiaries will be allotted the possession letters. As per the high court’s instructions, the houses should have been readied by December 31, 2011.

Also, the plight of those relocated to Ganeshnagar is quite miserable as the houses there have almost no basic amenities. The poor families complain about the water supply problem there.

Senior advocate Girish Patel, who is a petitioner in the high court, : “We are trying to bring it to the notice of the high court that many houses were not readied by December 31 and also that alternative arrangements provided to the beneficiaries are also not good enough.”

Some 9,000-odd families have been allotted houses while the remaining ones have not been allotted because either the construction process is still on or the process of documentation is not done.

Interestingly, some families who had their names in the earlier list submitted to high court and for which the houses are ready, are not traceable. On the day of hearing in court on February 2, it will be brought to the notice of court that if the families are not traceable, then the houses should be allotted to those who are waiting to get houses.