Centre rapped for poor rehab in A&N

Kolkata: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development has slammed the Centre for not being able to come out with a concrete proposal on rehabilitation of tsunami-devastated people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In spite of the fact that tsunami had occurred a year ago, the government is yet to frame a definite proposal on permanent rehabilitation of the affected people living in the islands, chairman of the parliamentary panel Md Salim said.

"We will urge the urban development ministry, the nodal body for the rehabilitation, to expedite the process so that sufferings of the people, now staying at temporary shelters, could be alleviated," Salim said.

Money is not a problem, he said adding the government would have to decide on the nature of construction, the types of houses and the per unit cost involved in giving permament rehabilitation to the displaced people.

The 31-member team of MPs, both from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, toured various places in the A&N Islands to take stock of the situation there. The panel would submit its report to the Parliament in the coming session.

Besides the A&N Islands, the panel also toured several places in Chennai and Kolkata as well.

Salim said implementation of the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) programme had been very poor in the state.

He said the SJSRY programme, aimed at providing self-employment to the urban poor, was not propery implemented in West Bengal due to lack of co-ordination between the banks and municipal bodies here and the parliamentary panel has urged the Reserve Bank of India to look into this.

However, Salim was all praise for Chennai where the Tamil Nadu government along with other central agencies and PSUs had done commendable work in the implementation of such schemes.

The panel visited areas like Tangra and Rajarhat for reviewing projects like mid-day meal and public-private partnership in the housing sector respectively.

The panel also visited Panihati in North 24 Parganas to inspect solid waste management programme there.