Yet another example of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) leaving beneficiaries of an urban poor housing scheme has come to light in the city. Several beneficiaries of such a housing scheme in Sayajipura are yet to get their houses despite having paid for them as the work on the scheme remains incomplete.
VMC had come up with plans to construct houses for the urban poor at Sayajipura under the Mukhyamantri Gruh Yojana. But work on the housing scheme came to a halt a couple of years ago as the agency that had taken up work ran into financial trouble.
Ghanshyam Bharucha, an activist who has taken up the issue, said that the beneficiaries paid the Rs 7,500 deposit and then the Rs 60,000 advance for the houses when the applied for the houses and were then allotted the same. He added that at a later stage, the beneficiaries also took loans for the houses and paid the remaining amount for the houses worth Rs 5.25lakh.
However, the contractor stopped work on the project due to financial issues. “The work was later handed over to an agency that used to work for the contractor. For unknown reasons, the agency also stopped work and unfinished housing blocks stand at the site,” said Bharucha.
On Saturday, some beneficiaries gathered at the site and held protests. They are planning to conduct an agitation regarding the issue in the future, said Bharucha.
