Shirish Khare believes that the current approach by Mumbai administrators with regards to shantytowns in the city could in fact result in increasing number of communities living in slum conditions.  Translated from the original article in Hindi.

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The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has a law by which shanty towns that are unlivable have to be declared as slums and the Municipal Corporation needs to provide amenities and programs to better the condition of the community. However, the Municipal Corporation has been more interested in 'slum' demolition, without even declaring these communities as slums. (After all, officially declaring these as slums will require implementation of programs for the betterment as per Mumbai laws.) This has resulted in the worsening of living conditions of people who continue to live in these communities - thus increasing the number of communities living in slum conditions.

As per Maharashtra Slum Act, 1971, section 4 states the conditions as per which communities in Mumbai can be declared slums. Very specific parameters laid down per this section define the conditions in which people live - including density of houses, access to water, electricity, roads, drains, open spaces, among others. Per these conditions, over 3000 communities in Mandala, Mankhurd, Govandi, Chembur, Mulund, Vikhroli, and Ambujwadi live in slum like conditions. Despite pleas for help and support from members of these communities, the administration in Mumbai is more focused on demolition of these communities rather than building infrastructure to support their living conditions. 

The Law of the Jungle in a Concrete Jungle

Per section 5A of the Maharashtra Slum Area Act, 1971, those communities that have been declared slums necessarily have to be provided with roads, water, electricity, sewage management, toilets, schools, hospitals, and community welfare centers. It is important to note that as per the law there are no cut-off-dates with regards to recognition of these communities or the provision of basic amenities. However, the administration today is consistently using cut-off-dates as a basis to follow this law. This is both inhuman and illegal. 

In addition, the law states that it is necessary that there be participation by residents in community upliftment programs. In fact the reality is that in over 1500 shantytowns and slums in Greater Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Ullasnagar, Virar, and Kulgaon-Badalpur, hundreds of thousands of residents have been made homeless by such community upliftment programs. Their participation in such programs is a mere pipedream. 

Simpreet Singh from "Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan" says that "For the sake of accounting, 15-20 communities are listed as slums every year. Given the number of shanty towns in Mumbai, this is a negligible number."

Why is the administration taking such steps. Simpreet Singh believes that the government does not want to deal with the process of upliftment and rehabilitation. In addition, declaration of slums in such large numbers will also require provision of basic amenities in a massive way. The government is unwilling to take on such a program. Besides, 'basic amenities' are today provided by middlemen and various lumpen elements - they are able to charge money or undertake extortion and other corrupt processes in return for the provision of some of these amenities. If the government provides these amenities, it would affect these middlemen. The officers in cahoots with these middlemen will not let that happen. 

According to the 2001 census, the population of Mumbai was about 17.8 million people. According to this census, 6.7 million people live in shantytowns spread over 20 regions - that is almost 38% of the populatin of Mumbai. Domestic workers constitute 6.6 million people in Mumbai - 37% of the population. Of this, about 0.37 million workers are migrant. Based on this, it can be argued that at least 25% of the space in Mumbai should be used to house 38% of the population who live in shanty towns and 37% who are domestic workers. It is ironic that the government makes 400 Billion rupees from taxes from workers - and yet, most of these people are without land for housing, or without access to basic amenities. Where they have homes, the government is making policies to evict them.

Section 51 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code provides measures to regulate and legalize squatting. On one hand, residents of old communities such as Indira Nagar, Janta Nagar, Unnabhau Sathe Nagar and Rafiqnagar have expressed their desire that their communities be legalized. The residents are willing to pay the fees for such legalization. Despite this, the administration has taken no step to act on this. On the other hand, the administration has been quick in legalizing illegal buildings and malls that have come up around Mumbai.

In 2007, under the banner of "Ghar Bachao, Ghar Banao Andolan", the residents of Mandala had proposed a shantytown uplift plan as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National urban modernization mission to the Maharashtra government. Members of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation met multiple times - but a decision has yet to be made. Similarly, a group met the collector of Bandra earlier this year. The collector, Vishwas Patil ordered his officers to identify residents of Ambujwadi who were residents before 1st January 2000, so that these residents could be given plots. This is yet to happen. At the same time, residents of New Basahat have asked for water, latrines and other basic amenities. The government has responded by putting them in prison. 

The Pardhi community - members of the Denotified Tribes  - have specially borne the brunt of evictions. The administration has systematically and continuously harassed them, breaking up the community through eviction and displacing them to different parts of Mumbai. In 2009, as per section 29 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, numerous communities such as Jai Ambenagar residents with members who identify themselves as Pardhi wrote to the collector asking for rehabilitation and requesting no further eviction till this is done.

Victory to Corrupt Processes

Currently, the process of regularization, legalization and upliftment of shantytowns and communities is rife with corruption. Those who should be (per legal regulations) regularized have been ignored; others have been regularized. Numerous cases have come to light where papers have been forged showing the the recipient of regularization had ceded control or provided legal authority to someone else - the recipient did not even know that this was ongoing. Numerous such cases have emerged in Amir Bagh, Andheri, Vithalvadi, and Golibar - often with involvement of politicians and bureaucrats. 

Numerous land related laws - including the ones cited above and national laws- have explicitly stated that nobody can be evicted or displaced without rehabilitation. Despite this, shantytowns have been demolished and communities evicted in summary fashion, sometimes even without prior notice.

Every year, the difference between demand and supply of rented houses increases by 84000. As a result, there is a great opportunity for builders to profit from building - and every year, about 55000 new houses are built. But the cost of these houses and their rents have become exorbitant. Access to housing in Mumbai is becoming impossible for the poor. Even middle class families cannot afford renting small apartments in places like Bandra, Juhu, Worli, Santa Cruz or Khar. They are often pushed to the extreme outskirts of the city where housing is still available at 25-45 lakhs. 

The law requires space for housing poor around large buildings - this is no longer implemented in building plans. Builders continue to take charge of the spaces that are still open in the city by continuing to build large buildings and by providing services for those in large buildings such as gardens and parks, parking, multiplex theaters and malls, etc. Thus, while Mumbai continues to provide a luxurious lifestyle to a few, for most, life and living is becoming unbearable.

Now that the administration has actively begun to displace even those who have some space to live - to make way for big builders - the conditions of the poor is even more pathetic. The poor continue to make way for the commercial interests of the city. In this context, the conditions of the poor have no place on the priorities of politicians. There seems no way that the poor in Mumbai can live in a human way.