letter to editor for the problems of slum dwellers
Answers
33, RAMESH COLONY
CHANDIGARH
11TH DECEMBER 2044
THE EDITOR
THE TRIBUNE
CHANDIGARH
SUBJECT- PROBLEM OF SLUM DWELLERS
SIR,
Slum dwellers are the most substantial but overlooked section of the Indian society. At a sizable 26 percent of India’s population; they represent the poorest of the urban poor. Different states have different meanings of the word slum. But a few characteristics are hard to escape. Minuscule living areas, a burgeoning population living below the poverty line, nil drinking water, and latrines shared among hundreds, a non-existent sewage system; the record is endles
Dharavi is an area sandwiched in the middle of Mumbai. Spread across 175 hectares and housing almost a million people as of today, it is titled one of the world’s largest slum dwellings and represents Mumbai’s blemish on its otherwise idyllic city.
In 1997, Mukesh Mehta, an India returned NRI architect came up with a plan to rehabilitate the Dharavi slums and create a commercial town in its place along with a pitiable portion to the slum dwellers. Everyone could see that it was a raw deal. Ironically dubbed ‘Save the slums’ project, this scheme was immediately approved by the Government of India. A 9200 crore project, 1.2 bn dollars would be made as profit by the developers and 25 million dollars would go into Mehta’s pocket. And to top it all; this redevelopment scheme represented nothing that the inhabitants of Dharavi wanted.
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra ordered the evacuation of more than 6800 Bombay houses in a single day. The people were neither informed nor were they given an ultimatum to vacate. A feat by every means, he later admitted to the ‘accidental evictions’. Almost four hundred thousand slum dwellers were rendered homeless as a result of evictions just before the Mumbai rains. Home to 12.5 million slum dwellers; eviction is never the solution.
The existence of slums in every major city of India is due to the imbalance in the urban economy. The government, fully aware of a sizable portion of its poverty-stricken population, that lives under despicable sanitation and housing conditions conveniently turns a blind eye to its cause. Its inhabitants are uneducated except some hopeful cases like in Tamil Nadu where more than 70 percent of the slum dwellers are educated. They take up jobs in the informal sector to serve their financial needs while still harboring dreams of making it big in the city someday.
The slum people of India are treated like third rate citizens in their own country. Jobs, food, water, housing, sanitation, all the basic amenities are not enjoyed by this class of people .
YOURS FAITHFULLY
ANMOL RAII.