The Times of India 08.12.2009
Now, multi-storey flats for slum dwellers!
GANDHINAGAR: In a move to deal with the tangled issue of slums, the Gujarat government is all set to go by an authoritative report that favours mass scale in situ housing development by constructing multi-storey flats for slum dwellers. What's more, the report proposes that flats be constructed at their present location instead of relocating the locals.
Preferring "verticalisation, i.e., construction of multi-storey flats" in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Jamnagar, the report wants the government to "facilitate" the private sector for construction of multi-storey flats by coming up with a condusive land policy.
"The government is all set to announce a new slum policy. An important aspect of it is to ask private builders to construct low cost flats for slum dwellers, preferably at their present place, complete with infrastructure," a senior bureaucrat said. "In return, the government will allow these builders to sell floor space index (FSI) in the open market to earn back what they would spend in constructing how-cost flats. Such builders can themselves use extra FSI free of cost to build high-rise buildings, instead of making payments for FSI," he added.
The report, Gujarat Urban Poverty and Slum Upgradation Strategy, prepared by well-known Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College of India in collaboration with Ernst & Young, asks the government to immediately start the process by declaring all slums as "registered" after undertaking a complete survey.
Vehemently opposing relocation as it would entail hardship to slum dwellers, the report says, the only exception could be for slums located in "hazardous" areas, such as "low-lying areas prone to floods, riverbeds, and railway tracks."
This is especially important, because, the report says, in Gujarat "the process of registration is not very clear." It adds, "The current practice is that the urban local bodies consider those slums as registered that were identified through surveys conducted in the years 1976 and 1982 and in some cases 1988." Result is, "a large number of slums that came into existence after 1980s are not considered as registered and are deprived of basic services and benefits. This results in continuation of poverty and poor living conditions."
The report also points out that even the current draft slum policy inadequately addresses the problem as it sought to register the slums that came into existence prior to the year 2000. It says, "The new policy should state that all slums existing as on the date of implementation of the policy should be registered." Suggesting that the process of registration be an annual feature, the report says this is especially important as in Gujarat, in 1970s, for every 100 poor, 32 belonged to urban areas. Three decades later, the number went up 41 as against the national average of 25.
Preferring "verticalisation, i.e., construction of multi-storey flats" in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Jamnagar, the report wants the government to "facilitate" the private sector for construction of multi-storey flats by coming up with a condusive land policy.
"The government is all set to announce a new slum policy. An important aspect of it is to ask private builders to construct low cost flats for slum dwellers, preferably at their present place, complete with infrastructure," a senior bureaucrat said. "In return, the government will allow these builders to sell floor space index (FSI) in the open market to earn back what they would spend in constructing how-cost flats. Such builders can themselves use extra FSI free of cost to build high-rise buildings, instead of making payments for FSI," he added.
The report, Gujarat Urban Poverty and Slum Upgradation Strategy, prepared by well-known Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College of India in collaboration with Ernst & Young, asks the government to immediately start the process by declaring all slums as "registered" after undertaking a complete survey.
Vehemently opposing relocation as it would entail hardship to slum dwellers, the report says, the only exception could be for slums located in "hazardous" areas, such as "low-lying areas prone to floods, riverbeds, and railway tracks."
This is especially important, because, the report says, in Gujarat "the process of registration is not very clear." It adds, "The current practice is that the urban local bodies consider those slums as registered that were identified through surveys conducted in the years 1976 and 1982 and in some cases 1988." Result is, "a large number of slums that came into existence after 1980s are not considered as registered and are deprived of basic services and benefits. This results in continuation of poverty and poor living conditions."
The report also points out that even the current draft slum policy inadequately addresses the problem as it sought to register the slums that came into existence prior to the year 2000. It says, "The new policy should state that all slums existing as on the date of implementation of the policy should be registered." Suggesting that the process of registration be an annual feature, the report says this is especially important as in Gujarat, in 1970s, for every 100 poor, 32 belonged to urban areas. Three decades later, the number went up 41 as against the national average of 25.
