Ordinance on slums historic: Bhatt

The State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Ajay Bhatt has hailed the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government’s move to bringing  an Ordinance to save the slums from the demolition. He said that the ordinance has provided a relief for three years to the slum dwellers during which the State Government would either regularise the houses of the slums dwellers or construct houses for them under 'Atal Awas Yojana'. Bhatt said that more than 15 lakh people residing in 582 slums in the state have been under the ambit of anti-encroachment drive started on the order of Uttarakhand High Court. 

Terming the decision of bringing about the Ordinance as a historic one, Bhatt said that the move was the consummation of the marathon brainstorming sessions the  party MLAs and leaders  were engaged in to evolve an enduring solution to the threat the slum dwellers were facing.  He said that BJP is  always committed to  providing solace  to the persons standing on the last of the social ladder. “This philosophy has been inculcated into us by the champion of integral humanism Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. BJP is sensitive towards the problems of the slum dwellers. Their interests cannot be ignored,’’ he said. 

The State BJP president  further said that the act passed by the Congress Government in the year 2016 had many flaws. “According to it, only 20 families in the State are eligible for resettlement and regularisation.  BJP government would now amend the Act to help the slum dwellers in right earnest,” he added.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress for its alleged attempts to incite the slum dwellers against BJP, Bhatt said that the people are mature enough to sift the corn from the chaff. “They know that BJP, and not Congress stands by the unprivileged people through thick and thin. The Congress would gain nothing from such fear-mongering,” the state BJP head said.