Overlooked by authorities, Noida’s slum-dwellers live in hellish conditions
NOIDA: Realtors in the city may be building a number of multi-storied apartment blocks and claiming to pursue the best developmental schemes and projects. But the situation in the slums of Noida seems to be denying such claims.
With over 12,000 impoverished families living in slums in the heart of Noida, a look at these squalid and overcrowded areas raises a big question on the issue of development.
Life in the slums is miserable and people have to go through several hardships every day due to shortage of water and regular power cuts. From dripping ceilings to flooded shacks, from diseases to unsanitary living conditions; all are common problems faced by the people living in houses made of rusty corrugated iron, cardboard and plastic in Noida’s slums.
Meanwhile, the city administration – despite its best intentions – has failed to provide necessary facilities to the people, as most of the slums are built illegally on government property or on roadsides. Providing amenities may legalise their status as residents, which would be against the law.
According to Noida Authority officials, slums are mostly located in sectors 4, 5,8, 9, 10 and 17. A proper report, followed by a survey, was undertaken by the Gautam Buddh Nagar District Administration to identify slum-dwellers.
“Around 3,200 units have been constructed for slum dwellers, but the people are not willing to shift into these flats as we have received very less applications,” said an official of the administration.
The government’s slum rehabilitation scheme also nowhere seems to have benefitted these people and builders are showing less interest in redevelopment of slum areas.
The rehabilitation scheme is aimed at providing accommodation to about 12,000 families, but only one-fourth of the newly built flats under the Economically Weaker Sections category are ready. Slumdwellers are finding it hard to deal with such a small units of flats. Moreover, a large number of the ready flats are in poor condition.
Some members of the community have alleged that the actual number of families living in slums is much higher and that the scheme may only benefit a few influential individuals.
A daily waged labour, Ramesh Yadav, told Millennium Post: “A majority of us do not have enough money to buy food for our children. More than half the children are malnourished. With privatisation, everything became more expensive: food, water, gas, electricity. I request the government to first provide fixed employment to the people living here as we do not have enough sources to afford with the monthly instalments of the homes built for us.”
Efforts are needed on the part of the city administration to provide decent accommodation to the slum- dwellers, with several authority flats and houses are squalid or lying vacant in Gautam Buddh Nagar.