The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to redevelop slums in core city areas to decongest these locations and reduce the population density.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will execute the slum rehabilitation projects instead of giving them to private builders.
The slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) will carry out the redevelopment of the slums at the same location. The PMC has around 25 SRA schemes across the city.
“We have drafted a special action plan for the redevelopment of slums as part of the Covid-19 mitigation plan, which include projects to be executed in association with the PMC,” Rajendra Nimbalkar, chief executive officer of SRA, said.
The maximum number of Covid-19 patients and deaths have been from slums and densely populated areas. The slums are located in the heart of the city and Peth areas including Bhavani Peth, Kasewadi, Harkanagar and slums in Parvati, Yerawada.
“The slums are proving to be the epicentres of the outbreak in the city. Poor infrastructure and congestion, usage of common toilets are also reasons behind the increasing number of positive cases in these pockets,” PMC commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said.
PMC’s data shows that slums are an integral part of the city’s habitat. Over 40% of the citizens — nearly 11 lakh people — live in these slums.
The civic administration is also looking at using the existing schemes as shelters. Nearly 700 flats will be used to shift slum dwellers who are not able to follow social distancing norms in their slum pockets.