It's been a long wait of three years for nearly 1,000 families from the economically weaker section in the city staying on non-developmental zones such as hill slopes and river banks. But three months from now, they will be able to move to their own flats in January 2010.

The scheme has been developed under the Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) programme, which is a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Announced in 2007, and given a budgetary allocation of Rs 341 crore for 16,520 homes, its first phase is almost ready.

In the first week of January 2010, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will hand over 1,000 flats to the beneficiaries. The PMC had send a demand of 40,000 flats of which the government sanctioned only 16,520. The sanctioned areas are Hadapsar (Ramtekdi), Warje, Lohegaon, Kondhwa and Kothrud.

Each house is 269 sq ft (one room and kitchen) and costs Rs 3 lakh. Fifty per cent of this amount has been put in by the central government, 30 per cent by the state, 10 per cent by the PMC with the individual liability being merely 10 per cent, that is Rs 30,000.

“The project is at present on at Hadapsar and Warje. We have finished with the construction of 200 flats at Warje and 800 at Hadapsar’s Ramtekdi. We are waiting for power supply that should happen this month. By next month, the families will finish with the paper work,” said a senior PMC officer.

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