Vajpayee for removal of slums from metros

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said there was no alternative to clearing slums in the metropolis and asserted some of the problems of the city could not be resolved without removing the huts.

"There is no other alternative to clearing the slums and allowing them would not solve problems of the city," Vajpayee said after the release of a book written by state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Nitin Gadkari, "The Path to Progress".

The book takes a look at the Mumbai-Pune expressway and flyovers, bridges conceptualised by Gadkari and constructed during the tenure of the saffron rule.

Vajpayee said the population of Mumbai was increasing and was affecting the civic amenities in the metropolis.

He wondered whether the demolition drive in the city would merely target migrants from rural areas or would it bring out development.

"Why were so many slums allowed to come up in the metropolis in the first place?" the former Prime Minister said. "This is not the right time to speak on the issue and so I will not comment further on it," Vajpayee said.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government successfully carried out development work in the country in its six-year tenure, Vajpayee said adding the Golden Quadrilateral Project initiated by the NDA government was praised across the world.