New alliance,old promises

As expected,the Congress reached out to its traditional slum votebank with a promise to expedite the redevelopment of Dharavi slums and to extend the cut-off date for protection of shanties to December 31,2000. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan accepted that this promise has been made earlier but added that while the parties’ commitment remains,there is currently a legal hurdle in implementing the promise.

In addition,slumdwellers have been promised redevelopment of shanties on Central government land,until now not feasible within the ambit of the Slum Redevelopment Authority schemes,repair permissions to all shanties within 30 days of applying,granting of licences for small business in protected slums and rehabilitation of the 30,000 to 40,000 shanties on forest department land. Also,the manifesto promises to build 10,000 toilets in slums each year 2012 onwards.

While the manifesto in Marathi dedicates a page to the Dalit community,the English translation curiously chooses to title this page the ‘Progress of downtrodden’ with a promise that 5 per cent of BMC’s revenue budget would be used for the development of areas “wherein the downtrodden live”. In the same category of promises are libraries and gymnasia in such locations,revamping Chaityabhoomi or the final resting place of Dr Ambedkar and filling the reserved category backlog among municipal staff.

Another category of promises for those below the poverty line promises a re-census for residents of forest land who cannot get basic amenities owing to not being counted as census slums. For “Koli and Agri residents of Mumbai”,gaothans and koliwadas will get better civic amenities and increased support for fishing trade.

With a 50 per cent reservation for women in corporations for the first time,women voters have been promised management contracts for parking spaces and public toilets,babysitting facilities for lower and middle income group women and municipal space for sale of products by women self-help groups. Additional public toilets for women have been promised too.

For the lakhs of voters living in old buildings in the island city,the alliance has promised to change rules regarding which buildings may be taken for redevelopment. At present,only buildings constructed before 1940 are permitted for development under Development Control Regulation 33 (7).

The manifesto promises to extend this to 1969,which means an additional 1,000 buildings could reap the benefits of reconstruction and avail of higher FSI. It also proposes to extend the benefits of redevelopment to suburban buildings.

While the manifesto promises to boost mega projects for drains and sewage disposal systems already underway,it also says an audit will be undertaken on the multi-crore BRIMSTOWAD,pegged at Rs 1,200 crore three years ago when the Central government sanctioned 100 per cent funding,and now stuck at 40 per cent completion with costs having escalated to Rs 3,000 crore.

Many promises are made for pothole-free roads,including concretisation of 1,800 km of roads,acquiring reserved land for more roads,providing footpaths,etc. “Despite having spent crores,the condition of roads has not improved. Quality control division will minutely inspect and audit the quality of road works,” the manifesto promises,reiterating that contractors will be penalised for shoddy work.