SlUm regUlarisation may not helP cong-ncP win votes
Activists working for slum dwellers’ betterment say protecting shanties from demolition will not be enough, they need hygiene, clean water and houses.
The Maharashtra government’s move to regularise four lakh illegal slums in Mumbai is unlikely to prove a game changer for the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance. Some bureaucrats have also expressed apprehensions over the government’s move, because they believe it will have to face the Supreme Court’s ire.
The Maharashtra Legislature passed the Amendment to the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act, 1971, on Friday, regularising four lakh shanties built between 1995 and 2000. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation cannot demolish these shanties now. It also makes around 16 lakh slum dwellers eligible for free housing under government schemes such as the Rajiv Awaas Yojna and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.
Activists working for slum dwellers’ betterment are sceptical about the government getting political gains from the regularisation. “The slum dwellers need basic amenities like hygienic surroundings, clean drinking water and better health facilities. The CongressNCP can add a little to their votes, but the move will definitely not be a game changer,” said Simpreet Singh, an activist associated with the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, a social group working for better housing.
Bhagwan Kesbhat, coordinator of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action, an organisation working for human rights, said no party can win over slum dwellers unless it makes their lives hassle free. “No one stays in a slum willingly. Slum dwellers need employment opportunities and good returns on their hard work. There is no guarantee that they will get a pucca house even if their shanties are protected from demolition,” he said.
A number of scams and irregularities in SRA schemes, and internal conflicts among the slum dwellers have hampered their dream to get permanent housing. “The government has shown the slum dwellers a dream, but there is no guarantee that they would get a pucca house in the near future,” an urban planner with the state’s Housing Department said.
The Maharashtra government had filed an affidavit before the Bombay High Court in 2005 that it will not regularise illegal slums built after 1995. A senior official said that the government needs the Supreme Court’s permission to regularise the slums built after 1995. “The Legislature has amended the Act without the SC’s approval. The court’s ire is inevitable in this case,” he said.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, however, is hopeful that the SC will not disapprove the Amendment. “We have taken the decision to amend the Act after consulting the Attorney General. The SC had earlier permitted slum regularisation while implementing the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, widening the Mithi river and expand- ing the international airport. There will not be contempt of court,” he said in the Assembly.
BJP legislator Ashish Shelar pointed out that the SC’s permission for rehabilitation of post-1995 slums was limited to cases of infrastructure development. “The government will certainly have to answer to the SC on this issue. It will not benefit the slum dwellers in any way,” he said.
In Mumbai, both eastern and western suburbs have seen a rise in the number of slums since 1995. Most of the slums that have come up between 1995 and 2000 are in Ghatkopar, Mulund, Govandi, Mankhurd, Malad, Malwani and Borivali.