Free housing scheme led to growth of slums -- civic chief

Free housing scheme led to growth of slums -- civic chief
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Free housing scheme led to growth of slums: civic chief

MUMBAI, APRIL 28: The Sena-BJP government's concept of free housing is the main reason for large-scale proliferation of slums in Mumbai which is choking the city, said municipal commissioner K Nalinakshan. He was inaugurating a one-day discussion on national slum policy organised by Slum Rehabilitation Society (SRS), a non-governmental organisation involved in resettling slums in the city. The National Slum Policy drafted by the Union government, currently under debate, has been forwarded to the state government for implementation.

``The moment the previous government announced it would offer free houses to slumdwellers, there was large-scale growth of slums. Now slums occupy around 60 per cent of Mumbai's space and there have to be concerted efforts by activists and bureaucrats to address the issue,'' Nalinakshan said.

``Though much hue and cry is being raised on the problems faced by the slums, no thought has been given to prevention of slums,'' he added. Nalinakshan stressed there are several agencies like MHADA, BMC, SRA etc to handle this issue which is creating confusion, and the system must be made more transparent by empowering urban local bodies for this purpose. There has been a reference in the policy to authorise ULBs to handle slum rehabilitation, and they should be given more financial powers, he noted.

Nalinakshan said: ``In situ development is the practical solution to remove slums since slumdwellers will not be willing to be relocated to a distant place.'' The commissioner said the World Bank had not yet disbursed Rs 100 crore for a saniation project, though it was sanctioned a long time ago, because the beneficiaries were not ready to pay Rs 100 per head.

Vishwas Dhumal, secretary, housing, began by announcing that he did not have any solutions to offer for tackling the issue of mushrooming slums in the city. One of the suggestions put forward was to promote rental housing where the entrepreneurs could build affordable housing structures. Another suggestion put forward by Dhumal was to ask financial institutions like the Housing Development Finance Corporation to finance low-income people also. However, he did not suggest any solutions to mitigate the risk elements involved in funding the low-income category without adequate collaterals.

G S Gill, vice-president and chief executive officer of MHADA, refuted the statements made by previous speakers, including Nalinakshan, on Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp (SPPL), saying the free housing scheme launched by the previous government was an excellent scheme but was marred by its poor implementation. He said the policymakers never factored in the speculative prices of the real estate market prevailing during those days. Gill said due to the hurried treatment given to SPPL, the schemes envisaged under that company could not be implemented properly. He added there are 12,000 ready-made houses available with MHADA, and SPPL has given work orders to another 11,000 houses for accommodating slumdwellers.