Access to Civic Amenities in Slums of Mumbai.pdf - Urban Design ...

AMENITY | 258Notified Slums: Some areas such as Colaba,Sandhurst and Matunga have no notifiedslums. Notified means, they are declaredas slums by the Government or MunicipalAuthority and they deserve the basic minimumrequirements of shelter (see Table 5).Slum Rehabilitation Policy in Mumbai:Since independence there have been someefforts at rehabilitating the population of slumsand improving their conditions of living. In 1985,the government tried to rectify the problemby launching the Slum Upgradation Project.It offered secure long-term legal plot to slumhouseholds on the basis that they would investin their housing. By generating an interest in thehousing and by guaranteeing home ownershipto the slum households, it is hoped to obliterateslums. Unfortunately the program targetedonly 10-12 percent of the slum households i.e.,those who were capable of upgrading theirhomes. It disregarded those who did not havehomes at all. Slum Rehabilitation Act 1995 waspassed by Govt. of Maharashtra to protectthe rights of slum dwellers and promote thedevelopment of slum areas. The Act protectedfrom eviction anyone who could produce adocument providing they lived in the city beforeJanuary 1995, regardless if they lived on thepavement or other kinds of municipal land.The free housing scheme for slum-dwellerswas severely criticised as the slum policy reliesonly on the participation of builders. However,the scheme is good because it envisages thatinstead of resettlement of slum dwellers toanother place it is better to upgrade theseslums by providing better housing, drinkingwater facility, electricity, toilet facility and properdrainage systems at their own locations.Concluding Remark:A large number of slum people are migrants;most of them belong to the lower socioeconomic group and come from differentparts of the country. The majority of the slumpopulation is concentrated in core areas of thecity because they want to live nearer to theirworking places and contribute significantlyto the economic activity of the city. Most ofplaces where slum dwellers live are unhygienic.In rainy season they are more vulnerable tothe diseases because most of the slums arein the low lying areas especially in the coastalcities like Mumbai. These slums are not onlycongested places, but also have open sewerageand lack private toilets. Wherever communitytoilets are available they are not properlymaintained and as a result people resort toopen defecation. This is a big problem inMumbai which warrants immediate attention.AMENITY | 259_______________________________________________________________________________References1. Registrar General, India, (2001), AnalyticalReport on Housing Amenities, Series I,Census of India, Delhi.2. Retnaraj, D., (2001), “Fast Growing Cities,Spurt in Land Prices and Urban Slums: TheKerala Experience.” IASSI Quarterly Vol 20,No. 2, Pages 123-133.3. Nangia, Parveen and Gupta, Kamla, (1993-94), Morphology of Slums in Thane. ReportSeries, No 6, International Institute forPopulation Sciences, Mumbai, India.4. United Nations Human settlementsProgramme (UN-HABITAT), (2003), Slumsof the World: The face of urban povertyin the new millennium? Working 1 Paper.accessed on 18 May 2009 available athttp://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=book View&book=20575. United Nations Human SettlementsProgramme (UN-HABITAT), State of WorldCities 2006/07, accessed on 18 May 2009available at http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/5636 _27492_SOWCR%2022.pdf6. Agarwal, S., A. Satyavada, S. Kaushik, andR. Kumar, (2007),” Urbanization, UrbanPoverty and Health of the Urban Poor:Status, Challenges and the Way Forward”,Demography India, Vol 36 No 1, pages 121-134.7. Abrams, Charles, (1970), “Slums”, in (editors)Desai, A. R. and S. Devadas Pillai Slums andUrbanization, Popular Prakashan, Bombay,pages 9-14.8. Grodzins, Morton, (1970), “The New Shameof The Cities,” in (editors) Desai, A. R. andS. Devadas Pillai, Slums and Urbanization,Popular Prakashan, Bombay, pages 77-81.9. Desai, A. R., and S. D. Pillai, (1970), Slums andUrbanization, Popular Prakashan, Bombaypages, 149-152.10. Kundu, A., (2007), “Stigmatization of UrbanProcesses in India: An Analysis of Terminologywith Special Reference to Slum Situations”Working Paper No 4, December 1999,accessed on 24 August 2007, available atwww.unesco.org/shs/most.html.11. South Asian Analysis Group, (2006),“Poverty and Slums in India: Impact ofChanging Economic Landscape,” PaperNo 1769, by Sud, Hari, accessed on 25August 2007 available at http://www.southasiananalysis,org/%5C paper18%5Cpaper1769.html.12. Bombay Municipal Corporation, (1956-57),“Slums in Bombay,” Reprinted from BriefReport on the Survey of Old Buildings inCity (1956-57), in (editors) A. R. Desai andS. Devadas Pillai, Slums and Urbanization,Bombay Popular Prakashan, Bombay, pages153-160.13. See reference 12, Bombay MunicipalCorporation, (1956-57), “Slums in Bombay.”14. Operational Research Group, (1989),“Accessibility to Basic Services in Slums ofFive Urban Centres,” Baroda.image credit_ Rajesh Vora