Free
Press Journal: Mumbai: Wednesday, 12 November 2014.
If your
monthly income is less than Rs 20,000, it will take you 12 years to have a 269
sq ft house in Mumbai, revealed a White Paper on ‘Status of Affordable Housing
in Mumbai’ which was released by the Praja Foundation, a city NGO on Tuesday.
When asked
about a solution to Mumbai’s unending housing woes, Shirish Patel, a senior
Mumbai-based urban planner said, “Inclusionary housing can serve as a feasible
alternative, where any construction for residential or commercial purpose
requires developers to set aside a portion of the total built space for
accommodating and rehabilitating existing inhabitants or occupants.”
Affordable
housing however remains an ignored domain. While explaining this Patel said, “According
to a RTI inquiry I filed in 2005, I found out that 4,413 police constables and
81 police inspectors live in slums.”
Milind
Mhaske, Project Director at Praja said, “Since last 19 years only 2 lakh
affordable houses are added to the stock, whereas the actual need is at least
11.57 lakh houses. SRA is clearly not a solution to the problem.”
Furthermore,
there are many cases of ill-maintained and poorly planned SRA buildings in the
city which have not provided solutions to people but have worsened their
problems.
The
government’s current discourse on housing strictly revolves around the concepts
of Floor-Space Index (FSI) and vertical expansion with no concern whatsoever
for the basic amenities and open spaces required to sustain the multiplying
population.
FSI is a
development tool that indicates the extent of construction permissible on a
plot. It is the ratio of built-up area to the total area of the plot.
He further
said, “FSI is a recipe for disaster. Proponents of higher FSI are not taking
into account aspects of density, crowding and its impact on quality of life.
Open spaces and other amenities such as educational institutions and health
care facilities, work spaces etc are equally critical for this added populace.”
Currently,
the domain of urban planning is fragmented between an array of agencies which
are looking at land use and transportation planning along with policy
interventions by departments of the state and central governments.
Also, there
is not enough investment in transport infrastructure. Connection of residential
hubs far away from the city to the ‘core’ areas of business and work is a
serious concern as many people travel for almost more than 2-3 hours a day.
Nitai Mehta,
Managing Trustee, Praja Foundation, said, “Expanding and enhancing of
railroads, bus routes and even sea routes can prove to be viable solution to
the housing problems as this will cut down the transit time and hence the
builders and home buyers, both can move out to areas where land is
comparatively cheaper.”
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