Yerawada slum project in Pune not for profit: NGO

The Maharashtra Social Housing and Action League (Mashal), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), on Tuesday claimed there are no anomalies in the in situ slum rehabilitation scheme that it is implementing in Laxminagar slums, Yerawada.

The NGO refuted charges made by a prominent Marathi daily that the houses constructed by them under the scheme are of inferior quality. Mashal has been in the forefront of the in situ slum rehabilitation schemes in the city.

The main feature of the scheme is that instead of constructing multi-storey buildings elsewhere, the slum dwellers would get new houses at the existing site. With contribution from the central and state governments, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the stakeholders themselves, this project is being run in the city under the ‘basic service to the urban poor’ (BSUP) scheme.

Sharad Mahajan, executive director of Mashal, referred to allegations that a slab of a house had fallen and also that Mashal was paid Rs1,300 per sq ft for houses constructed by them. He said it was alleged that it was taking too long to build the houses.

Mukund Ghare, vice-president of Mashal, refuted the charges and explained the incident of the slab collapse as due to overloading of the cantilever. “A dead load of over 1,200 bricks was placed on the slab. We have already redesigned the slab,” he said.

Both Ghare and Mahajan pointed out how Mashal gets Rs909 per sq ft of the construction, a major chunk of which goes for paying the reinforced cement concrete (RCC) consultant and architect. Both of them stressed on how the project was almost a ‘no profit no loss’ endeavour.

Late payment of dues by the PMC delayed the projects, Mahajan said.