FOR our politicians and bureaucrats, Vision Mumbai involves, on one hand, construction of aluminium, glass-clad commercial buildings, wedding cake-like apartment towers, flyovers, sealinks and, on the other hand, activity to make such ‘‘prime’’ construction possible. And slums, being the most vulnerable group, are the first victims. Consider the allegations against them—encroachers don’t pay taxes, they’re a huge burden on wafer-thin infrastructure. But they are also consumers—and they don’t get any tax-free sops. They pay taxes too, apart from the large sums they shell out to officials, policemen and slumlords. Moreover, slums are built on uninhabitable land; slumdwellers invest labour and money to make them liveable. And that investment gives the land its primehood. Who’s going to return to slumdwellers their investment? What slumdwellers need is security of tenure. The free housing scheme has demolished their dignity and filled the pockets of builders and consultants. In fact, earlier schemes of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) involved slumdwellers, who formed cooperative societies while MHADA offered technical expertise and help with loans. Even colonial rulers built industrial housing—especially for textile labourers. Even if famous town planner Patrick Giddes once called the BIT and BDD chawls Bolshevik barracks, residents of these chawls still enjoy the luxury of playgrounds, community halls for youth, women, etc. The proximity of these residences to places of work reduces stress on transport and also enables more women to get into the labour market, a fact proven by the multitude of women textile workers. And working women slumdwellers. The total number of BDD chawls built in central Mumbai in the 1930s, by the British, was 16,545. Between 1952 and 1971, the government built 3 lakh units of public housing for working and middle-class Mumbaiites. In the three decades from 1972-2002, the count stayed at 3 lakh. As population grew, the government cut down its contribution. And the clincher—under private builder-partnered free house scheme, less than 30,000 tenements have been built to date. Slums and mill lands are now the most burning issues in Mumbai. Both are linked to the makeover plan and both are linked internally too. Under earlier Development Plans (DP), of 600 acres available from redeveloping sick mills, 200 acres were kept aside for open spaces and 200 acres for housing. Now, the government wants to make 300 acres available by demolishing shanties. And the 400 acres that were already available is given back to private millowners. There’s no doubt the city is carrying well beyond its capacity and interventions are long overdue. That’s why citizens must demand a comprehensive approach, considering the aspirations of all sections of society, instead of the current ad-hoc bulldozing approach. Work on a new city DP should commence soon. And that key plan should not be formulated by just technical experts but by a cross-section of society, actively representing different movements like women’s groups, organisations of slumdwellers, environmental and heritage activists. The time for that consensus building is right now. Adarkar is an architect, town-planner and co-author of One hundred years, one hundred voices: The Millworkers of Girangaon
