DNA: Mumbai: Friday, 18 July 2014.
Beyond the
glitz and glam of Mumbai lies a dirty underbelly where more than half of its
citizens are slum dwellers. Often these people live in conditions entirely
unsuitable for human habitation. Most of the slum dwellers are forced to use
public toilets with very poor sanitation. This inevitability leads to worsening
health condition of the primarily poor migrant people residing in those areas.
Now an RTI report has only confirmed this notion.
According to
the report, Kurla is the unhealthiest ward of the city followed by Andheri.
These two wards have recorded the highest number of cases of infectious
diseases. Cases of diarrhoea and tuberculosis (TB) are most prevalent in Kurla
with around 10,000 people affected in both. The menace of poor sanitation is
currently plaguing even parts of South Mumbai. This is evident in the fact that
dengue cases are rampant there according to the RTI report. Currently nearly 69
lakh people reside in the 2,000 odd slum pockets in Mumbai.
A survey
indicated in 2002 that nearly 30% of the deaths are due to poor sanitation in
the city. The condition hasn't changed much in the last decade. The problem has
been only compounded with the fact that increasingly people are migrating from
other parts of the country to Mumbai in search of better livelihood. But many
people, especially those involved in blue collar jobs, are forced to live in
extremely pitiable conditions. At present, three in every four slums in Mumbai
are dependent on public toilets and 5% of the people are compelled to defecate
in the open. While migrants on the one hand do not have access to public
distribution system or other benefits due from the government, a major section
of those originally hailing from the city too live in despicable state for the
lack of low cost hygienic housing conditions. The government has tried to
change the situation by bringing about Slum Sanitation Programme. The programme
initially got support in a micro level
from community members and leaders cutting across different political
parties. However SSP scheme faces the hurdle of scaling up to a larger scale
for sustainable community sanitation.
The
government has also tried to provide low cost housing for slum dwellers to
improve their standard of living. But experts believe Slum Rehabilation
Authority (SRA) has failed to live up to its promise. Less than 13% of the
projects have been completed in the last 18 years. Alongside the usual
dilly-dallying by errant builders, there are several problems of litigation
that are plaguing the progress of these projects. In the coastal slums, several
environmental sanctions has impeded any developmental work. Finally last year
the state government decided to overhaul the slum redevelopment project giving
special stress on incentivising slum redevelopment. However, in reality
situation continues to remain grim.
Elections in
Maharashtra are due in few months. Slum development will surely be one of the
top issues and politicians will continue to give token assurance to improve the
condition of slum dwellers. It is to be seen if the situation changes in
reality. Till then news like Kurla being the most unhealthy ward of Mumbai will
continue to haunt the people of that part of the city.
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