Ahmedabad: In a move to clean up the city in its 600th year,just ahead of a possible nomination by Unesco as a World Heritage City,the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has gone into an overdrive to improve around 600 slums in Vibrant Gujarats showcase city.

The urban development department has cleared the way for a slum-free Gujarat with a new slum rehabilitation and development policy.A notification to this effect issued on Tuesday says any slum established on or before December 2010,can now be rehabilitated.And,the slum-dwellers will get newlyconstructed houses for free.This,according to realtors,will turn many slum dwellers into millionaires overnight,given the high prices of decent flats in these areas.There will be almost half a million beneficieries belonging to about 1.42 lakh households.

In Ahmedabad alone,this new policy will clear over 40 lakh sq m of land.Some of these slums are in prime realty zones and their value cumulatively runs into several thousand crores of rupees.According to the rehabilitation policy already drawn up by the AMC,in anticipation of Tuesdays notification,builders will be roped in to build three-storey apartments for the slumdwellers and they will be then free to utilise the remaining portion for commercial or housing projects.Proposals from builders,who will be responsible for these housing areas for a period,have already been invited for 15 slums in Gujarat.The policy promises a two-room house with bathroom and kitchen to each family.Each flat will be of 25 sq metre or 270 sq feet.The private player,who wants to develop the slum area,will be responsible for creating necessary infrastructure for the whole area.The notification effectively nullifies the earlier pre-requisite for domicile status for slum-dwellers at least 10 years of stay in any particular slum.In Ahmedabad,the recent survey of AMC that concluded on December 1,will be the basis for identifying beneficieries.

AMC,ASI to ink MoU today 

On Thursday,Ahmedabad will get a step closer to its goal of achieving World Heritage City status.Officials from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Archeological Survey of India will ink a memorandum of understanding in Delhi for heritage conservation.For the first time in India,a civic body will sign a charter with ASI, says a senior official from the urban development department.The charter encourages the ASI and AMC to collaborate towards the upkeep of monuments.