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Bangalore, Apr 5: Slum dwellers in Bangalore can look forward to better days if the Congress walks the talk, as the party is promising a slum-free Bangalore in five years if it is voted to power.

Participating in 'Suvarna Bengaluru Pranalike-a sharing of manifestos' organised by Janaagraha, senior Congress leader and former minister R V Deshpande said that the Congress would make an honest effort to make Bangalore a slum-free city in five years.

Responding to the problem of poverty in Bangalore raised by social activist Anita Reddy, he said the city has about 440 slums, and the funds provided through Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) would be utilised effectively for the purpose.

JD(S) working president C Narayanaswamy drew the attention of the gathering to the previous coalition government's programme to utilise the lands recovered from encroachers to provide group housing for the poor. He suggested implementation of such programmes on a larger scale to address the housing problem of urban poor.

V S Acharya, chairman of BJP manifesto committee, promised a manifesto rich in programmes for the urban poor.