YCMOU- MIT STUDY CENTER

Slum Rehabilitation Live Case Study Dharavi Mumbai.

Ar. Shamika Ayre

12/31/2012

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Introduction

Perpetual flow of people from villages to cities creates many socioeconomic problems. The

density of population of cities rises and civic amenities fall short of needs. Law and order

situation deteriorates. Prices of essential commodities rise. Housing situation become acute

and rents soar. New entrants start living on pavements and thatched huts. That way slum

come up, at times, adjacent to or right in the middle of posh colonies.

Migration of the poor to cities creates slums. Cultivable land in villages is limited. And it is

not enough to support the landless labourers in the village. Instead of starving in villages,

they along with their women folk move on to cities in search of employment. While men

work as unskilled works, their women get work in households. World found, they build

juggles that later become a cluster of huts.

Landless labourers are also attracted to cities as there have many factories where mill

hands are needed. Later, these factory workers cal their relatives and friends from their

villages. Thus cities start expanding haphazardly.

Spread of education in villages is also responsible for migration c rural people to urban

areas. Once a person in a village crosses the matriculation level, the agricultural profession

does not interest him. He is on the lookout for an office job and hence the migration.

City Life has its own charm. We have sprawling bungalow multistory buildings, clubs,

cinemas, theatres and other places entertainment and employment. Villagers start

enjoying city life. The send money to their parents and elders regularly. At times they get

lost the hustle and bustle of city life.

The slums in the capital and metro cities are getting larger and larger—with more migrants

coming in. Basic amenities like electricity, potable water, toilets may be lacking in slums

and there is no drainage. Heaps of garbage is found here and there. Hygienic conditions

are not there-thus slum dweller fall easy prey to diseases like cholera, malaria, jaundice.

During the rainy season, it is real hell for slum dwellers.

Government is conscious of the deplorable conditions in which slum dwellers live. Basic

necessities have to be provided to more than one crore- slum dweller in different urban

areas in the country. This scheme is part of the minimum needs programme. The National

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Council for Applied Economic Research has been given the task of assessing the impact of

slums improvement on the lives of slum dwellers.

The main difficulty faced by government is that the slum dwellers that are provided

alternative accommodation sell away these at fancy prices and are back to form new

slums wherever possible.

The best way to deal with the problem of slums in cities would be to stop migration of

landless laborer from rural to urban areas by providing employment avenues in villages.

Different labor intensive industries can be started in villages. Small-scale industries, with loan

facilities, can be established for educated rural youth. Better living facilities are provided so

that city life no longer holds charm. The migration ceased, there will be no reason for slum

to come up.

The pace of urban growth and urban concentration has reached critical dimensions in

case of most of the developing countries.

The persistently high rates of natural increase, rapid in-migration particularly from rural

areas, and changes in rural society, all are simultaneously causing immense growth in

urban population in these countries.

The continuously swelling size of the Third World cities and their visual impact on

concentrated poverty has drawn the attention of national planners, policy makers and

researchers alike.

Most of the national governments in the developing countries have started realizing their

concentration of activities and population in few leading cities and resultant deterioration

in living conditions in them as serious threat in achieving their stated development goals.

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Global Slum scenario:

Source : www.google.co.in

Currently 900 million people are living in slums around the world. Unless the world changes

course, 1.5 billion urban residents in 2020 will be slum dwellers, most of them residents of

developing regions who lack such basics as a political voice, decent housing, sanitation,

access to water, schools, healthcare, and a safe and dependable way of getting to work.

Even though development practitioners tend to focus on rural areas, developing countries

face a tremendous challenge—an opportunity—in managing the rapid growth of urban

centres. The rise in number of people living in such appalling conditions can be prevented

and millions of lives can be improved, however, if specific steps are taken to better the lives

of the urban poor and prevent the creation of future slums, according to the UN Millennium

Project’s Task Force on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers. The task force report—A Home

in the City. Report of the Task Force on Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers— released

today is part of a detailed global action plan for fighting poverty, disease and

environmental degradation in developing countries. The report notes that the factors that

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cause slums to develop are complex and can vary from one country to another, but that

solutions to the crisis of slums share many common elements, among them respect and

recognition for the groups that represent the poor, legislation to protect the poor from

forced evictions, investments in basic infrastructure, such as water, sanitation, garbage

disposal. In addition, urban planning needs to be strengthened and reformed to prevent

the formation of new slums.

According to the task force, it would cost US$18 billion a year to improve conditions for 100

million slum residents and to introduce the infrastructure and services needed to provide

alternative housing for another 570 million people who would otherwise become slum

dwellers. The task force has developed a concrete blueprint to fight urban poverty. Its

recommendations include:

Countries need to recognize that the urban poor are active agents and not just

beneficiaries of development. Local authorities and national governments should

collaborate with the organizations of the urban poor in upgrading slums and providing

alternatives to slum formation.

Managing cities requires local solutions. Local authorities need to be empowered with

financial and human resources to deliver services and infrastructure to the urban poor.

Cities should draw up local long-term strategies for improving the lives of slum dwellers.

Following consultation with both slum dwellers and national authorities, local governing

bodies should pass legislation to prevent forced evictions and provide “security of

tenure” to residents of slum communities.

Local governments should develop strategies to prevent the formation of new slums. These

should include access to affordable land, reasonably priced materials,

employment opportunities, and basic infrastructure and social services.

(Source : The millennium Project commissioned by UN secretary general.)

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Indian Slum Situation :

India is also suffering with top-heavy structure of its

urban population. According to 2001 census, nearly 71

per cent of its urban population is concent rated in

cities having a population of more than 1,000,000.More

than fifty per cent of the urban population is found

in 23 metropolitan cities only. A large proportion of

the population in most of these cities is found to be living in sub-human conditions.

The most glaring example of these sub-human living conditions is the development of large

slum colonies in almost all the big cities of India. The situation is fast deteriorating in case of

those cities where the growth of population has been very rapid.

The major cities in India trace their roots to the small

settlements of the East India Company. Conditions such as

famine and epidemics in the country side have created an

unbalanced demographic profile throughout the history of

urbanization.

In spite of several programmes, the cities continue to grow

with a rapid increase in population. This is putting a

tremendous pressure on the urban infrastructure and

environment leading to pollution and scarcity of water, living

space, health care facilities and food.

Mushrooming of slums is another major problem of Indian cities. The people living in slums

are living in sub-human conditions but the economic opportunities attract them to the

urban areas from the impoverished rural India. They have no qualms about the filth and

squalor as long as they are getting food and are able to save some money.

The Indian urban system is not integrated both functionally and spatially as a consequence

of which there are breaks and imbalances in urban hierarchy as well as in the rural-urban

profile. The apex of the urban system in India is lopsided; the urban link through the market

towns is weak.

Source : www.google.co.in

Source : www.google.co.in

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The Indian towns are growing on the basis of tertiary sector rather than on the basis of

secondary sector. However, the growth of district headquarters in the recent decades has

built up an infrastructure of large-scale urbanization based on higher degree of economic

development.

The multi-functionality of a large number of district headquarters of India is an index of the

kind of decentralized urban development taking place in the country.

These district headquarters are becoming more and mo diversified in their functions. This is

a healthy trend, particularly when industry is emerging as one of the vital functions in such

district headquarters.

Western India is more urbanized than the eastern India and the Southern India is more

urbanized than the Northern India. The explanation for the same lies greatly in the diversity

of resource potential and the history of modern urbanization in different parts of India.

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National Urbanisation Policy

The main objective of the urban policy is to develop an urban rural continuum replacing

the existing urban-rural dichotomy. The national policy gives first priority to urban housing in

which both public and private sectors have been invited to contribute. Here public sector's

responsibilities have been limited with the improvement of slums, and providing cheap

housing facilities to weaker section of the urban society.

In a major change in national policy has been noticed towards the slums. The national

policy puts greater emphasis on the improvement of slums rather than on their demolition

or removal. For this purpose slum beautification / improvement projects have been

launched in several cities of the country to provide such civic amentias like roads, drinking

water, good drainage, electricity etc in urban slums.

Under Sites and Services Plan economically weaker section of the urban society have been

provided low interest loan facilities to purchase house plots and construct houses. Agencies

like HUDCO and LIC etc are advancing such loans to urban poor.

Under the Urban Land Ceiling Act 1976 the State Governments have been authorised to fix

maximum ceiling for urban land. State governments and local bodies have also been

granted rights to acquire any private property for public use after paying adequate

compensation to its owner.

The urbanization policy puts greater emphasis on the development of infrastructural

facilities in small, medium and intermediate towns so that these could attain the status of

growth centers in rural hinterland.

Under the urban policy incentives have been given to industrial houses and entrepreneurs

to establish new industries in small, medium and intermediate towns so as to bring down

congestion and pollution in big cities of the country. Such facilities include tax concession,

factory site at cheaper rate, infrastructural facilities free of cost or at concessional rate.

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Urban policy makes obligatory even to small, medium and intermediate towns to prepare

their master plans and control the haphazard growth of the urban settlements.

Under the national policy the management of all the towns and cities has been entrusted

to local bodies which would be working under the guidance of the respective State

government.

In national urbanization policy there is a plan to divide country into urban regions so as to

provide greater opportunity for the solution of local and regional urban problems. Its prime

objective is to develop a framework of strong urban system in the country which is

complementary to the rural development.

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Housing Shortage

Housing shortage is estimated in terms of excess households over houses including houseless

households, congestion (number of married couples requiring separate room/house),

replacement/upgradation of kutcha/unserviceable kutcha houses and

obsolescence/replacement of old houses. Table 5 shows the components of housing shortage

in the country at the beginning of 1991. Table 6 shows the estimates of housing shortage in

urban areas based on the Report of the Ninth Plan Working Group of the Government of India,

Ministry of Urban Affairs & Employment

India’s National Report for Habitat II Conference in Istanbul estimates that by 2021, the country

would face a housing shortage of 44.9 million units and that the investment required for

tackling this shortage over a period of 25 years at 1991 prices would be of the order of Rs.6580

billion. The Ninth Plan Working Group of the Government of India, Ministry of Urban Affairs &

Employment estimated the new housing/old housing upgradation requirement at 16.76 million

units for the 9th

plan period (1997-2002). About 70% of the units are estimated to be required for

the urban poor/economically weaker sections of society while about 20% is for low-income

groups. About 10% of the urban requirement is for addressing the middle and higher income

group segments. It is estimated that for urban housing alone, the total requirement of

investment would be of the order of Rs.1213.7 billion for 1997-2002 to address the housing

shortage of 7.57 million, upgradation of 0.32 million semi-pucca Economically Weaker Sections

(EWS) units and the additional construction of 8.67 million units. The total requirement of funds

for urban and rural housing put together for 1997-2002 was estimated to be of the order of

Rs.1500 billion (see Table 7). Against this amount, about Rs.520 billion is likely to be available if

the past trends of housing finance are assumed to continue.

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Investment Requirement for Housing: Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002)

Segment

No of Units to be

Constructed (Million)

Fund Requirement

(Rs. Billion)

Likely Availability

Rural 162.5 290 180

Urban 176.6 1,214 340

Total 330.1 1,504 520

Source: Government of India, Ministry of Urban Affairs & Employment: Ninth Plan Working

Group on Housing (1996)

Table

Projected Housing Shortage in India’s Urban Areas, 1997-2001

Item

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Pucca

40.08

42.13

44.29

46.56

48.94

Semi-pucca 6.65 6.73 6.81 6.88 6.97

Kutcha 3.35 3.38 3.40 3.43 3.45

Households

(No.)

50.09 51.85 53.68 55.56 57.52

Housing

Shortage

7.57 7.36 7.18 6.93 6.64

Source: Ministry of Urban Affairs & Employment 1996. Report of the Working Group on Urban

Housing for the Ninth Five-year Plan. Government of India, Delhi.

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National Housing and Habitat Policy 1998

In 1994, India adopted the National Housing Policy (NHP), which recognises the key role of the

Government as facilitator rather than provider of housing services. The National Housing &

Habitat Policy-1988 (NH&HP) is a continuation of the NHP. It calls for a housing revolution in the

country and focuses on the changed roles of various stakeholders in the housing development

process in the new economic environment of liberalisation and globalisation. The policy

emphasises the need to persuade the private and cooperative sectors to take greater

initiatives in the promotion and development of housing through fiscal concessions and other

incentives. Though the move towards disassociation of governmental agencies from direct

construction is being witnessed since the early 70s, the NH&HP calls for a continued positive

role by the Government in housing of the poor. Rapid growth of population and increased

urbanisation on one hand and escalating land prices on the other are responsible for

widening the gap between demand for and supply of housing units. These factors squeeze the

poor off land and marginalise them in urban housing markets. Recognising this, the NH&HP

suggests a number of areas of intervention for governmental agencies to promote affordable

housing for the poor, including availability of sites, housing loans at below-market rates, low-

cost building materials and civic services.

The broad aims of the National Habitat and Housing Policy-1998 (NH&HP) are:

� Creation of surpluses in housing stock either on rental or ownership basis;

� Providing quality and cost-effective housing and shelter options to the citizens, especially

the vulnerable groups and the poor;

� Guiding urban and rural settlements to ensure planned and balanced growth and a healthy

environment;

� Making urban transport as an integral part of the urban Master Plan;

� Using the housing sector to generate more employment and to achieve skill upgradation in

housing and building activities;

� Promoting accessibility of dwelling units to basic facilities like sanitation and drinking water;

� Removing legal, financial and administrative barriers for accessing land, finance and

technology for housing;

� Forging strong partnerships between private, public and co-operative sectors in

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The NH&HP envisages a key role for the Government of India in promoting policy and legal

reforms, facilitating flow of resources to housing and infrastructure through measures such as

fiscal concessions to investors and promoting the creation of a secondary mortgage market.

The State Governments are expected to gradually withdraw from direct construction of

houses, liberalise legal and regulatory regime to give a boost to housing and support

infrastructure, promote private sector and co-operatives, and facilitate access of the poor to

land, finance, low-cost and locally-suited engineering solutions and participatory designs.

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Draft National Slum Policy

The main objectives of this policy are:

1. To integrate slum settlements and the communities residing within them into the urban area

as a whole by creating awareness amongst the public and in Government of the underlying

principles that guide the process of slum development and improvement and the options that

are available for bringing about the integration.

2. To strengthen the legal and policy framework to facilitate the process of slum development

and improvement on a sustainable basis.

3. To establish a framework for involving all stakeholders for the efficient and smooth

implementation of Policy objectives.

B. GOVERNING PRINCIPLES

1. Slums are an integral part of urban areas and contribute significantly to their economy both

through their labour market contributions and informal production activities. This Policy,

therefore, endorses an upgrading and improvement approach in all slums. It does not

advocate the concept of slum clearance except under strict guidelines set down for

resettlement and rehabilitation in respect of certain slums located on untenable sites.

2. The poor represent an extremely important element of the urban labour force and

contribute substantially to total productivity and labour market competitiveness. It is vital that

all ULBs recognise the contribution of the urban poor in helping to build urban prosperity and

make sufficient provision for them to have access to affordable land, house sites and services.

The present planning and development framework is exclusive of slums and informal

settlements. It views slums as “problem areas” requiring corrective action. The legal framework

with its origin in the pre-independence socioeconomic context requires modifications and

progressive change. There is a need for a greater commitment to institutional re-orientation by

adopting a more ‘enabling’ approach to the delivery of basic services accessible to the

poor through the more effective mobilisation of community resources and skills to complement

public resource allocations. Major areas of attention include: town planning, land

management, poverty alleviation, basic service delivery and capacity building.

3. The Policy embodies the core principle that households in all urban informal settlements

should have access to certain basic minimum services irrespective of land tenure or

occupancy status.

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4. Cities without slums should be the goal and objective of all urban planning for social and

economic development. To reach this goal, it will be necessary to re-vision our urban

development processes to make towns and cities fully democratic, economically productive,

socially just, environmentally sustainable, and culturally vibrant.

5. Urban growth and development should lay greater emphasis on equity and distributive

justice. This will mean adopting policies and processes that promote balanced, equitable and

sustainable development. The Policy aims to support the planned growth of urban areas in a

manner that will help to upgrade all existing slums and informal settlements with due regard for

the protection of the wider public interest.

6. The proliferation of slums and informal settlements can be obviated by ensuring continuous

supply/recycling of serviced and semi-serviced land suitable for high density occupation by

lower income groups. Institutional, planning and fiscal mechanisms should be devised to

prevent the idle use of land in urban areas. In those few cases where land needs to be

conserved for future use in the wider public interest, more effective safeguarding measures

must be evolved by the land owning agencies concerned.

7. Urban local bodies should work in collaboration with all other stakeholders to enhance the

impact of slum development and improvement activity by building the capacities of the poor

and empowering them to improve their own living conditions. Urban management systems

need to be improved in three critical areas: i) resource allocation and use; ii) service delivery;

and iii) urban governance - democratic, efficient, transparent and gender sensitive.

It is to be emphasised in keeping with the principles of this Policy, that it primarily endorses and

promotes an upgrading and improvement approach to deal with slums and informal

settlements as opposed to resettlement.

Financing Sustainable Slum Improvement & Services

i) State Financing: A Slum Development Fund (SDF) should be created at state level to support

slum development activities taken up by. The SDF includes:

Contribution from Central devolution of funds from Planning Commission and as

earmarked by Central Finance Commission.

Bilateral/ Multi-lateral funding (directly to SDF or town specific)

Contribution from States own revenue resources.

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ii) Municipal Convergence Funding: At Municipal level a variety of sources of funds could be

converged to finance slum development as indicated in each ULB’s Integrated Municipal

Development Plan and Annual Action Plan. These sources may include:

Transfers from the State Slum Development Fund

Private contributions (with tax concessions) from business,

industry and trade

Contributions from other domestic donors

Contributions from the Shelter Fund to finance shelter needs in slums.

iii) Role of the Private Sector: It may be desirable to leverage additional resources for slum

improvement by involving the private sector in certain projects which will utilise revenues from

the commercial development of high value inner city slums for resettlement and rehabilitation

schemes which will result in bringing about a substantial improvement in the physical,

economic and social quality of life of slum dwellers.

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Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP)

Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme aims at combining the existing schemes

of VAMBAY and NSDP under the new IHSDP Scheme for having an integrated approach in

ameliorating the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who do not possess adequate shelter

and reside in dilapidated conditions.

The scheme is applicable to all cities and towns as per 2001 Census except cities/towns

covered under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

The scheme seeks to enhance public and private investments in housing and infrastructural

development in urban areas.

OBJECTIVES

The basic objective of the Scheme is to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and

enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities

to the slum dwellers of the identified urban areas.

FUNDING

The scheme will apply to all cities/towns, excepting cities/towns covered under JNNURM. The

target group under the scheme is slum dwellers from all sections of the community through a

cluster approach. Allocation of funds among States will be on the basis of the States’ urban

slum population to total urban slum population in the country. States may allocate funds to

towns/cities basing on similar formula. However, funds would be provided to only those towns

and cities where elections to local bodies have been held and elected bodies are in position.

The State Governments may prioritize towns and cities on the basis of their felt-need. While

prioritizing towns, States would take into account existing infrastructure, economically and

socially disadvantaged sections of the slum population and difficult areas.

AREAS THAT COME UNDER SCOPE

i) Provision of shelter including upgradation & construction of new houses.

ii) Provision of community toilets.

iii) Provision of physical amenities like water supply, storm water drains, community bath,

widening and paving of existing lanes, sewers, community latrines, street lights, etc.

iv)Community Infrastructure like provision of community centers to be used for preschool

education, non-formal education, adult education, recreational activities, etc.

v) Community Primary Health Care Centre Buildings can be provided.

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vi)Social Amenities like pre-school education, non-formal education, adult education,

maternity, child health and Primary health care including immunization, etc.

vii) Provision of Model Demonstration Projects.

viii) Sites and Services/houses at affordable costs for EWS & LIG categories.

ix) Slum improvement and rehabilitation projects.

x) Land acquisition cost will not be financed except for acquisition of private land for

schemes/ projects in the North Eastern States & hilly States, viz., Himachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir

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SLUMS IN INDIAN CITIES:

Slums in Bhopal (Source: www.google.co.in)

Slums in Delhi (Source: www.google.c o.in)

Mumbai's Shadow City Some call the Dharavi.

All cities in India are loud, but nothing matches the 24/7 decibel level of Mumbai, the former B

ombay, where the traffic never stops and the horns always honk. Noise, however,

is not aproblem in Dharavi, the teeming slum of one mill ion souls, where as man y

as 18,000 peoplecrowd into a single acre (0.4 hectares). By nightfall, deep inside

the maze of lanes too narroweven for the putt-putt of auto rickshaws, the slum is

Slums in Ahemdabad (Source:

www.google.co.in)

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as stil l as a verdant glade. Once you getaccustomed to sharing 300 square feet

(28 square meters) of floor with 15 humans and anuncounted number of mice, a

strange sense of relaxation sets in—ah, at last a moment to thinkstraight.Dharavi is routinely

called "the largest slum in Asia," a dubious attribution sometimes conflatedinto "the largest

slum in the world." This is not true. Mexico City's Neza-Chalco-Itza barrio hasfour times as many

people. In Asia, Karachi's Orangi Township has surpassed Dharavi. Even in

M u m b a i , w h e r e a b o u t h a l f o f t h e c i t y ' s s w e l l i n g 1 2 m i l l i o n p o p u l a t

i o n l i v e s i n w h a t i s euphemistically referred to as "informal" housing, other slum

pockets rival Dharavi in size and squalor.

Dharavi spreads over parts of the

municipal wards of Sion, Bandra,

Kurla and Kalina in suburban

Mumbai. It is sandwiched between

Mahim in the west and Sion in the

east and comprises 175 hectares;

Present day Dharavi has a

population, of more than 600,000.

Dharavi lies between Mumbai's two

main suburban railway lines, the

Western and Central. To its west are

Mahim and Bandra, and to the

north the Mithi River which flows

through the Mahim Creek into the

Arabian Sea. To the South and east

are Sion and Matunga. Dharavi’s

location and poor drainage render it vulnerable to monsoon floods.

History

In the 18th century Dharavi was an island. The area was mostly mangrove swamp inhabited by

Koli fishermen. This disappeared when the swamps were drained and the separate islands

became one landmass, leading to the creation of Bombay, now Mumbai. This caused the

Map of Dharavi (Source www.google.com)

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creek to dry up, thus depriving Dharavi of fish, its traditional sustenance. The newly filled in

marshes provided space for migrants from Gujarat, who established a pottery colony.

Maharashtrian tanners of the ‘Chambhar’ (leather workers) community also arrived.

Embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh started the ready-made garments trade, while Tamil

migrants began working in the tanneries.

Economy

Dharavi pulsates with economic activity. Its population, with no outside help, has achieved a

uniquely informal economic system of self-help. Residents, bereft of proper housing, have

nevertheless risen from poverty by establishing thousands of successful businesses. A study by

the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT, Ahmedabad) found some 5,000

industrial units producing garments, pottery, leather goods and steel fabrication; and services

such as recycling and printing. Its recycling industry, which processes waste from Mumbai, is

expanding fast. Dharavi has an estimated 15,000 single-room factories. Many products are

distributed worldwide. The annual value of goods produced is conservatively estimated at

US$500m. Its productive activities are extraordinary – they occur in almost every home.

Economic activity is decentralised, human in scale, home-based, low-tech and labour-

intensive. The result is a pedestrianised, organic, low-rise community-centric landscape. It is

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network-based, with mixed use and high density – but unfortunately depicted as a ‘slum’. This

is due to lack of basic facilities such as roads, housing with individual toilets, and public

amenities. Dharavi, however, is not a slum but a unique self-contained township.

Prince Charles said, Dharavi offered a better model than western architecture for housing ‘a

booming urban population in the developing world’. He warned that soaring urban

populations could only be accommodated without social and environmental disaster by local

urban design rather than ‘a single monoculture of globalization’. Dharavi, he said, possessed

such attributes with its use of local materials, walkable neighbourhoods, and mixture of

employment and housing. It represents a design ‘totally absent from the faceless slab blocks

that are still being built around the world to “warehouse” the poor’.

Dharavi is not like other Indian slums,

since it was not formed by migrants

searching for work. The pre-existing

village only grew by importing new

skills as the scope for earning

expanded. It represents Gandhi’s

dream of ‘a self sufficient, self-

sustaining village community’ -

though lacking an adequate

physical infrastructure .

If Dharavi is redeveloped as an in

situ development, its contribution to

the city’s economy will continue and grow. But if residents were resettled in multi-storey towers

with 30sq. metres cubbyhole apartments - as a US developer of Indian origin suggested, and

which the state government accepted - erstwhile residents would find it impossible to carry on

their work and contribute to the economy. Many jobs include textile and leather working,

labelled as heavily polluting, which will be banned under the redevelopment plan. Except for

leather working (and that only in tanning), none of the other jobs, like textiles, are even lightly

polluting activities.

In India the gulf between rich and poor is widening and the middle class is almost vanishing.

There is rampant and blatant financial and moral corruption in the total system of

governance. In these circumstances the only way to improve living conditions in the slums is to

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provide basic services like water supply, sewage disposal, and health care.

Plans for redevelopment :

If the state government has its way, very soon history's most ambitious slum-clearance project

may have eliminated Dharavi, this beehive of human activity housing 600,000 people. The

world's most written about ‘slum’, it is the source of billions of dollars, mostly from transforming

waste into new products in make- shift factories of wood, corrugated metal and plastic

sheeting. It will all be gone - replaced with a master-planned community giving families a

300sq. ft. house with running water, a toilet and electricity. These cubbyholes, devised by the

Slum Redevelopment Authority, will be located in multi-storey concrete buildings provided free

by developers or government agencies, which in return will enjoy the right to build 40m. sq. ft.

of salable area.

This demolition may be well meaning, but is a totally misguided act of a reform-minded

government intent on using the recent economic fortunes of India to improve ostensibly the

unhygienic conditions of the poor in Dharavi. But in reality it is to reap multimillions of dollars in

profit by selling office space and luxurious homes on the vacated land of Dharavi’s poor.

Pseudo urban planners have drawn up ambitious plans, with designs for a ‘city in the sky’ with

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elevated walkways connecting clean apartment buildings. Development will be undertaken

by ‘high-flying’ pseudo planners who have given no more than a token hearing to the well-

established communities in Dharavi who will suffer from their plans.

Gentrification

Are we then heading for the gentrification of Dharavi? This is where wealthier people will move

into, renovate, and restore housing and sometimes businesses in inner cities or other depressed

areas. The affordability gap is fundamental to explaining gentrification as an economic

process. When sufficiently wide, real estate developers, aided by the government (as in

Dharavi) and others with vested interests, see the potential profit from reinvesting in inner-city

properties and redeveloping them for top-end buyers. This excludes the poor from affordable

housing, leading to higher real estate prices and lease rates affordable only by the new

occupants. The real estate market changes with gentrification. Even the small homes built for

the original residents are often converted into condominiums or luxury housing available for

purchase. The developers in Mumbai have demonstrated their ‘expertise’ in designing the

300sq. ft. apartments meant for the original slum dwellers in such a way that two, three, or four

of them on a single floor can be amalgamated conveniently to form larger apartments for the

affluent. As real estate changes, land use is also altered. Prior to gentrification these areas

usually consist of low-income housing and sometimes light industry. Afterwards there is still

housing but it is usually high-end, along with offices, retail, restaurants, and other forms of

entertainment.

Gentrification significantly affects culture and character. Over time, prices go up and the

poorer people are priced out and replaced with the wealthy, who then demand better

amenities. Housing stock and businesses change to meet them - again raising prices and

forcing out the remaining poor. The wealthy are further attracted, thus perpetuating the cycle.

The worst feature of gentrification is displacement of the original inhabitants. Retail chains,

services, and social networks are also priced out and replaced with higher-end retailers and

services. It is this aspect that causes the most tension between residents and developers.

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Refurbishment

Every family in Dharavi has paid for its house through complex social arrangements that go

back decades. They all get electricity, cable television and other services through non-official

intricate networks. Families have been drawn to the ‘slum’ because of its fortune-making

potential. They have carefully built livelihoods and an ad hoc system of social security.

The crucial flaw in the Dharavi redevelopment plan (DRP) is that it is founded on the belief that

its people are there because they have fallen out of mainstream society. It is presumed that

nobody desires to live where it smells like a toilet and assumed that everyone prefers a solid

roof to a sheet of plastic. It is taken for granted that people wish their children to be in safe,

neat schools. Yet, like Dharavi, urban slums today are a vast improvement on rural poverty in

India, particularly in Maharashtra where one farmer commits suicide every day!

Over the past 40 years, more enlightened and less greedy governments (than in Maharashtra)

in Asia and South America have adopted rational and saner ways of rehabilitation of slums by

granting people title deeds on their tiny plots of land and providing minimal infrastructure such

as sewerage systems and clean water. ‘The best plans generally let the slum dwellers

themselves make the main decisions in planning their future,’ said Aprodicio Laquian, the

Filipino-Canadian planner who practically invented the idea of slum-dweller-designed urban

rehabilitation in the 1960s. Such schemes, known as ‘slum upgrading’ or ‘sites and services’,

have been at the heart of the most successful urban renewal projects of the past 40 years.

These are models that India and Mumbai should be emulating. But desires to plan from the top

and bulldoze the aspirations of those who have built their lives in the slum, continue to win the

day.

Remodeling

Dharavi contains the attributes for environmentally and socially sustainable settlements.

Western developers, like the one who initially floated the idea of Dharavi’s redevelopment,

often export plans for large-scale, high-rise buildings from developing countries without

realising the richness of places like Dharavi. Mumbai has a population of about 18 million. Only

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about 35 per cent live in 'regular' permanent housing. The rest live in informal settlements,

squatting on sidewalks and under bridges. Nearly 12 million occupy settlements on private and

public open land, some of which are more than 50 years old. Dharavi is one of them.

Dharavi’s 600,000 people live in 100,000 makeshift homes. It has one of the world’s highest

population densities at more than 2,700 persons per hectare. It is adjacent to the expanding

Bandra-Kurla Complex commercial centre that has overtaken Nariman Point, the current

downtown of Mumbai. Dharavi is close to the domestic and international airports.

Despite its plastic and tin structures and lack of infrastructure, Dharavi is a unique, vibrant, and

thriving 'cottage' industry complex, the only one of its kind in the world. Its 'unplanned', and

spontaneous development has led to the emergence of an economic model characterised

by decentralised production relying on temporary work and self-employment. Production is

flexible and adaptable and its viability is evidenced by the national and international markets

reached.

Unfortunately, these facts are overlooked and Dharavi is depicted as a 'slum'. In fact it is a

unique self-contained township with close work-place relationship so eulogised since the days

of Patrick Geddes - but never achieved in any of the new towns! Dharavi needs to be

replicated (albeit with adequate physical infrastructure), not demolished. Instead, the state

government’s intention of enforced relocation of people into cubby holes in high rise towers

so that the vacated land can be commercially exploited means, At a conservative estimate,

a developer could make a US$ 460m - a profit of at least 900 per cent!

Would it not be rational, and just, to grant land tenure to existing residents so they themselves

can redevelop the area and through self-help efforts gain access to institutional finance? Of

course, but how then would developers reap rich harvests of millions of dollars for their

benefit?

Why is the in situ redevelopment approach of self-help - invariably suggested by experts all

over the world and by financial institutions like the World Bank - not being adopted?

There are three reasons: the politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats (the PBT combine)

cannot proclaim their great ‘vision’ unless the solutions are seen to be grandiose and

glamorous - and ‘newsworthy’ for the media; it precludes taking up huge capital investment

projects that can generate equally huge kickbacks for the PBT combine; a scheme for

acquiring over 500 hectares in a prime area of Mumbai in the name of slum clearance can

generate astronomical redevelopment profits for the PBT combine.

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What is 'unique' about DRP is not its concept as claimed by its planners, but its Machiavellian

attempt to deprive over 100,000 families of their traditional work and homes so that the land

can 'host' commercial urban development that can ride piggy back on the infrastructure

already created in BKC, at public expense, and benefit developers.

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Redevelopment of Dharavi :

Introduction :

Dharavi is the largest and highly populated slum pocket in Asia. Govt. of Maharashtra has

accepted the proposal submitted by Architect, Mr. Mukesh Mehta for the redevelopment of

Dharavi which, after suitable modifications, will be implemented through the Slum

Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), according to the norms of S. R. Act of 1971.

Development Plan

According to SRA norms, the slum dweller whose name appear in the voters list as on

01.01.1995 & who is actual occupant of the hutment is eligible for rehabilitation. Each family

will be allotted a self contained house of 225 sq.ft. carpet area free of cost. The eligible slum

dwellers appearing in Annexure II certified by the Competent Authority will be included in the

Rehabilitation scheme. Eligible slum dwellers will be given rehab tenement in Dharavi.

Transit tenements :

During the implementation of this project, Dharavi residents will be provided with

transit tenements, in close proximity of Dharavi or in Dharavi itself. The developer will

bear the cost on account of rent of the transit tenements but the cost of expenditure

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of consumables like water, electricity, telephone etc. will have to be borne by the slum

dwellers.

Sustainable Developments :

The development plan for Dharavi has many amenities in it; viz. wider roads, electricity, ample

water supply, playgrounds, schools, colleges, medical centers, socio-cultural centers etc. For

proper implementation, Dharavi has been divided into 10 sectors and sectors will be

developed by different developers. The total duration of this project is excepted to be of 5 to

7 years. Rehabilitation building will be of 7 storeys.

Development Procedure :

After considering the redevelopment plan, a detailed plane

table survey has been carried out to know the ground realities.

Also, consent of the slum dwellers to join this project is being

obtained. After obtaining suggestions & objectives from the

public for the revised development plan, the same will be

finalized by Govt. For each sector a detailed sectoral plan will

be prepared by the selected developer in consultation with

SRA. This will be placed before the public for

suggestion/objectives and then finalized after due

-Appointment of developer :

Global tenders will be invited from developers for this project. The developer will be evaluated

technically and financially by a Committee headed by the Chief Secretary of Government of

Maharashtra. Each developer is required to explain his development strategy in his sector and

obtain objectives & suggestions from the residents before starting the development process.

Development of local industrial units :

Taking into consideration the various industrial units in Dharavi, it is being proposed that, non-

polluting industrial / businesses will be retained in Dharavi itself. All the established businesses

Five Sectors of Dharavi

Sorce : www.dharavi.org

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and manufacturing units will be encouraged and will be provided with modern technical and

economical strategies for sustainable development.

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Answers to Pivotal questions on Dharavi.

1. What does Dharavi Redevelopment Project mean and what are its benefits ? The eligible

Slum dwellers of Dharavi will be provided with a free of cost pakka house of 225 Sq.ft. carpet

area with attached toilet & bathroom.

2. Who will benefit from this project ? The slum dweller whose name appears in the voters list as

on 01.01.1995 & who is actual occupant of the hut will benefit from the scheme.

3. How will a slum dweller get to know that his name is registered in the Government records

? If your name appears in the electoral roll of 01.01.1995 and you are occupying the said hut

as on today, you are entitled for rehab tenement.

4. Who will decide the eligibility of slum dwellers under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme

? Following Competent Authorities on the basis of ownership of land covered by hutments will

decide the eligibility.

Land Owner Authority

1. Government owned

land Deputy Collector (Encroachments)

2. MCGM Concerned Ward Officer/Assistant

Commissioner

3. MHADA Chief Officer-Mumbai Housing & Area

Development Board

4. Privately owned land Deputy Collector (Encroachments)

5. What does Annexure II mean?

Annexure II means the list of slum dwellers who are entitled to benefit from the Slum

Rehabilitation Scheme, it also includes the measurements of land.

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6. What is the importance of Annexure II?

A person can get rehabilitation tenements only if his name is include in Annexure II.

7. What is the duration of Dharavi project?

The total duration of Dharavi project is approximately 5 to 7 years.

8. If two families are staying in the same house, would they be given two separate houses?

No, only one house will be allotted to such family.

9. What will be the arrangements for the transit tenements?

Transit tenements will be either in Dharavi or in the vicinity of Dharavi.

10. Who will bear the expenditure for the transit tenements?

The developer will bear the rent for the transit tenements, however, other expenditure such as

water charges, electricity charges, telephone charges will be borne by the slum dwellers

themselves.

11. How will the developers be appointed for Dharavi development Project?

The Government will call for global tenders. These tenders will be evaluated technically and

financially be the committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary of the

Government. The eligible developer is required to explain his development strategy in his

sector & seek their suggestions/objections from the residents before starting the development

process.

12. Can an NGO or slum dwellers’ co-operative housing society bid for a sector?

An NGO/Co. Op housing society who qualifies with the technical and financial criteria of the

tenders being called by Government, can bid for development of a sector.

13. What will be the maintenance and Municipal taxes per month after the formation of

Housing Societies?

The residents have to pay maintenance and Municipal taxes per month in accordance with

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the existing slum rehabilitation scheme, being implemented in Dharavi.

14. How many storeys will each building have?

Normally, each building will have 7 storeys. However developer can construct rehab building

of more than 7 floors in consultation will the concerned Co. op. Housing society of slum

dwellers.

15. When will the co-operatives be formed for the slum dwellers?

The Co-op. society of slum dwellers will be formed, after the commencement certificate is

issued.

16. Do the slum dwellers have to pay any amount towards the project?

No.

17. If the name of the slum dweller is not registered in the electoral list before 01.01.1995 and

he is staying in the same structure prior to 01.01.1995, will he be eligible under S. R. Scheme?

In such a situation this slum dwellers can appeal to the S.R.A. he will be given a heating and his

eligibility will be decided based on evidence produced by him.

18. If my hutment is falling under a proposed road or any other public purpose project, am I

entitle for the rehab tenement?

If your hutment is situated on the land reserved for public purpose and if it is constructed

before 01.01.1995 then you will be entitled to receive a rehab tenement. If it is not possible to

rehabilitate at the same place, then the rehabilitation will be done in the near vicinity.

19. What are the various plans for the industrial sector?

Government intends to legalize the industrial units conforming to the Government norms &

Development control Regulations.

20. What provisions are made for the cottage industries?

Businesses falling under this category will be protected, provided they obtain legal document

or necessary licenses for running the business.

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Sketch Showing the intended Transformation of Dharavi (Source : www.google.com)

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Pics taken during site visit at Dharavi Mumbai.

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