(a) whether a large number of slums have come up on the vacant land along the railway lines in metropolitan cities of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof specially in regard to Mumbai City of Maharashtra;
(c) whether the Government has taken or proposes to take any steps to provide houses to the people living in slums situated along the railway lines in various metropolitan cities of the country specially Mumbai; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a) to (d): As on 31.03.2018, out of 4.77 lakh hectare land available with Indian Railways, approximately 844.38 hectare (0.18%) land is under encroachment. Most of the encroachments are in the approaches of the Stations in Metros and big cities in the form of slums. In the city of Mumbai, 41.20 hectares of land is under encroachment which is mostly in the form of slums.
The Railway land is required for servicing and maintenance of track, bridges and other operational uses and also utilized for execution of various infrastructural projects for meeting future growth needs of Railways, which include projects like doubling/tripling, traffic facilities etc. In view of this, rehabilitation of slum dwellers on Railway land would not be feasible.
Housing being a State subject, the State Governments are asked to include existing slums on Railway land in their plan for rehabilitation/resettlement of slum dwellers of a city. Entire cost of such rehabilitation may also be borne by State Government or Urban Local Bodies as Railways may not be able to contribute towards cost of land or rehabilitation/resettlement.
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