This Citywatch has the following stories:
On September 2002, over 10,000 community leaders from 35 different cities and 9 states attended NSDF and Mahila Milan's annual three-day convention. Since the federation is strongest in Mumbai, holding the convention in Mankhurd 138 was a wonderful opportunity for RSDF to share their experiences and successes, and to inspire leaders from across the country. On the first day, over 2000 members of the Pavement Dwellers settlements in Mumbai had a series of discussion to formalise its federations, nominate its core leadership, and decide a plan of action. On the second day, each city presented what they had achieved, planned, and hoped to learn. Afterwards, the 75 elected representative of the national committee met to review their overall strategy. On the third day, Mr. Ranganathan (Mumbai Municipal Commissioner), Mr. UPS Madan (Project Director, Maharashtra Metropolitan Regional Development Authority), Mr. Gautam Chatterji (ex-CEO Slum Rehabilitation Authority) and Mr. Ratnakar Gaikwad (ex-Pune Municipal Commissioner) - officials who have really worked with the federation in a spirit of partnership were honoured. A friend of the Alliance, ex-Prime Minister, Mr. V.P. Singh, also attended this event.
Every day, about 10,000 people were fed by the RDSF volunteer kitchen committee. Also, children from RSDF, the next generations community leaders, gave wonderfully festive performances.
Said one participant, "I've been in the federation 11 months now and coming here has made me see that this organisation is spread all over the country. I feel inspired to go back, work really hard, involve more people, and do whatever is possible."
Formalising Leadership structures within the federation
National Leadership: In the beginning of February 2003 an important strategic meeting in was held in the resettlement colony in Wadala (which houses 1477 people in permanent apartment buildings and 3600 people in transit settlements). Key leaders of the federation of Bombay - around 150 people - attended this discussion. The aim of the meeting was to elect four national presidents of the NSDF - Mr. Nehrudasan from Chennai has already been elected President of the South, and four more will be elected. After much heated debate it was agreed that two leaders should be chosen from Maharashtra, and two from the Northern and Eastern States. Of these five presidents, three should be women. There will be several further meetings to decide who exactly should be elected.
The Mumbai Federation: The second half of the meeting was devoted to electing the leaders of the Bombay Federation. It was decided that three leaders per Area Resource Centre (there are 14 in Bombay) would join this group and a 11 committee members will be further chosen to form a core team. The main leaders were nominated at this meeting, and another meeting will be held to elect the central committee.
Mumbai Pavement Dwellers: Leaders of the Mumbai Pavement Dwellers Federation meet weekly. The Alliance is now forming a committee of these community leaders to negotiate with municipal and other authorities on the behalf of pavement dwellers in the city. The committee will also coordinate all savings and loans activities, surveys, mapping, and the locating of available lands for resettlement. There are some 20,000 families that live on the streets in Mumbai and SPARC has data bases on nearly 16,000 of them.
North Indian Federations: This year, federation leaders from Kanpur and other cities in Uttar Pradesh have been having regular exchange visits with communities in Delhi to support activities of Delhi's newly emerging federation. It is hoped that soon a North Indian Federation will develop in the same way as the South Indian Federation.
Pavement Dwellers Federation in Mumbai keeps growing
There are over 300 pavement settlements in 21 wards in Mumbai. About 20,000 households live in these areas and detailed household and area-wise data is collected by Alliance members.
Hamid bhai, who is one of the organisers, recalls how when in 1997, the BMC wanted to demolish some houses on the footpath in Wadala, he and other members of the Alliance asked for one hour. "Within that time, we went to the Byculla office, got a list of all the legal footpath homes on that street, and showed it to the Muncipal Corporation (BMC). No demolitions took place."
The Alliance organises three leaders per one hundred households, or one leader per thirty households. These leaders are given I.D cards by the Alliance and made focal leaders in their community - answerable to their neighbours about the Alliance's work and also to negotiate with the BMC in case they arrive to conduct demolitions.
"It's really difficult," says one of the leaders that organises communities, "People have been promised so many things by politicians that they don't trust us easily. But we keep going back, talking about what we are doing and slowly one or two people become interested. And seeing others join, more and more start to join us as well."
Some pavement community have their own detailed registers - Shri Sai Krupa Zopadpatti Sangh - which is in Dadar, has 56 households. Each family has the picture of one member of the household (sometimes a couple is pictured together) and the details of all the members of their household. A list of community leaders is also handed to the members of the community
Tirupattur: More than 2500 people attended a housing exhibition in this city. From the 3rd -5th February 2002, two models were displayed. The first, which was a loft type, covered 286 sq. ft and cost Rs. 40,000. It had a living room, bedroom and kitchen. The second, which was a single level, covered 330 sq. ft. and cost Rs. 58,000. It also included a toilet. Mr. Raja, an MLA in the Tamil Nadu state assembly, inaugurated the exhibition. Group discussions were later held by the Pondicherry, Tirupattur and Bombay teams. The next step, for many of the teams, was to start forming housing societies in their areas and saving Rs. 100 per month per household.
Housing Exhibitions were also held in KGF, Pune, Cuttack and Puri. In other countries, housing exhibitions were held in Jinga, Uganda and Pnom Phenn, Cambodia.
Expanding households that receive RMK loans
This past year, Mahila Milans from a number of cities started extending RMK loans to their members. These are loans upto Rs. 5000 for economic purposes.
| City | State | Households |
| Ambur | TN | 83 |
| Arani | TN | 13 |
| Chengam | TN | 140 |
| Coimbatore | TN | 60 |
| Cuddalore | Pondicherry | 13 |
| Cuttack | Orissa | 11 |
| Paradeep | Orissa | 7 |
| Pollur | Orissa | 13 |
| Puri | Orissa | 2 |
| Villipuram | TN | 6 |
| Total | 348 |
This year the federation conducted and updated its slum surveys in Mumbai, Pune, Theni, Thiruvalluvar, Pondicherry and Madurai. Nearly 70,000 families were involved in this. The chart below gives details.
| City | Type | Households |
| Mumbai | BSES -Harbour Line | 238 |
| BSES - SCLR | 3294 | |
| Pavement Dwellers | 15319 | |
| Others | 312 | |
| Pune | New areas | 3663 |
| Delhi | New areas | 201 |
| Theni | Federated slums | 2439 |
| Madurai | Federated slums | 39910 |
| Thirunelveli | Federated slums | 1452 |
| TOTAL | 66,828 |
In fact, the power of enumerations is demonstrated by the following example. Harekrishnapin is a settlement in Bhubaneswar, Orissa where about 1000 families were resettled 6 or 7 years ago. A member of the Orissa federation, the Mahila Milan group had become very strong and although normally lease of land was not being given in cases of resettlement, pressure from Mahila Milan forced the authorities to change their minds. Moreover, the Mahila Milan helped many other communities that were facing demolition threats. For example, when a slum on private land was about to be demolished, Mahila Milan encouraged its residents to carry out a cadastral survey, give I.Ds to all residents and put up a united front to prevent demolition. They are now exploring options together with the land owner, which is a private news agency.
Exchanges: Sharing information
National: In January 2003, a team from Mumbai visited communities in Orissa to exchange information about their activities
and to help the communities in Puri and Cuttack construct their house models.
On the first day, in Bhubaneshwar, discussions centred on a recent High Court eviction order and the efforts by the federation to demands that all affected households are given alternate land. The next day, the team went to Mundashahi basti in Cuttack. The house model being built at this site was having problems with its laadis, which kept breaking after they dried. The Bombay team ordered new cement and showed the community how to clean it properly. Then they made two laadis - which didn't break. The team also visited Puri where a mud house was being constructed. Unfortunately, the problem with this model was that, because of the damp sea air and heavy winds, the walls of the house kept getting wet and this increased the possibility that they would crack later on.
Community meetings in Paradeep revealed that most slums in are on Port Trust land and there face a serious demolition threat. The team emphasized the importance of savings groups to build collective strength to demand alternate land and also to start planning towards constructing new, safe homes.
Coastal Regulations Zone: The 1991 CRZ Act was prepared by the Government of India to restrict development along the Indian coast. These areas were divided into three zones. CRZ I, or the land between the high and low tide, where development was entirely disallowed. CRZ II, which covered lands which already had significant development, and CRZ III, which there were a few old structures and settlements.
Dharavi, which is situated along the Mithi river, falls into CRZ II. Although in 1997, the SRA had allowed for FSI (which determines how much a plot can be built up) in slums to increase from 1.33 to 2.5, those areas that fell within CRZ II were excluded. For the Rajiv Indira housing project in particular, a little over 50% of its land was affected. This significantly affected the amount of money that this project could generate and much effort has been made to relax these rules. SPARC has made appeals to the Maharashtra State CRZ Authority to relax these rules on three grounds. First, that such a rule is anti-poor and impractical in Mumbai. Second, that this construction does not negatively affect the environment. Conversely, it might even lead to reduced open defecation. Third, that the breath of the Mithi river is actually only 60 metres, and on the state map it has been wrongly indicated as 100m. In fact, on the other side of the river, only 60 metres of land falls into the CRZ area! If this appeal is accepted the other three thousand households in Dharavi that fall under CRZ II will benefit as well.
In January 2003, the CRZ Authority agreed to positively recommend our case to the central government. However, there has been no progress to date.
Demolitions and Evictions: Panchsheel Nagar is one slum that is near the railway station and has about 470 households. This
slum is located on two lands - Railway land and City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) land. In fact, in 2001 about 100 houses were demolished and a wall was built to prevent them from returning. The federation intervened and helped the affected households relocate within the existing slum. The community also asked the federation to help them be resettled in a safe area and Mahila Milan, after carrying out an enumeration exercise, and doing a lot of homework, identified two such municipality areas. Next, supported by the federation, the local Mahila Milan women approached the Panvel taluka's head office for permission to move. However, in November 2002, when only 120 out of the total 470 households were found eligible for this move, Mahila Milan decided that they would all move together or none at all. Currently, efforts are being made to negotiate with the collector and see what solutions can be worked out.
The Alliance is in the midst of constructing 5 apartment buildings to re-house 209 families that live in Dharavi. All these families will get 225 sq. ft flats for free under the city's Slum Redevelopment policy rules. This project - known as the Rajiv-Indira Housing Scheme - is particularly important to the federation for a number of reasons. It is the first time that such a scheme is being entirely led by poor communities and thus it demonstrates how these communities can actually manage and lead slum-upgradation.. Moreover, by showing that such projects, which focus on the needs of the poor, ensure high quality construction and financial sustainability, it sets new standards in the city and creates the demand for similar construction to be replicated and scaled up. Finally, it tests the city's redevelopment policy to see how it works for poor communities. As a result, the wealth of experience created is enormous and the construction site has a regular stream of local, national and international visitors, all coming to see and learn from this project.
This past year meant many successes! In February 2002, amidst much celebration, the first 54 families moved into their new apartments. Later that year, in October, the first tranche of Transfer of Development Rights - which is one way the project is financed - was released and sold. Furthermore, SPARC and Citibank had many discussions to firm a 6-crore loan towards this project.
But there have also been a number of challenges. Current Coastal Zone Regulations have restricted construction and deeply affect the finances of this project. However, the Alliance is challenging these rules, which, in fact, affect over 3000 families in Dharavi. However, so far, there has been little progress on this front.
At present, construction for two new buildings is well underway and the next group of members is soon to move in!
For the past few years, the Alliance has been constructing 850 homes for bidi workers in Sholapur. Although, for a number of reasons, progress on this particular project has been slow, the Alliance believes this initiative has paved the way for many poor communities to access safe and secure housing. For instance, once the Alliance demonstrated that it is possible to build affordable homes as long as government subsidies are accessed, many other groups initiated similar projects. And late last year the President of India inaugurated 2000 houses that everyone commented were "just like that of SPARC!"
However, things have not been as easy for the Alliance. Application for subsidies have still not come through, and are constantly being transferred between various departments. This has placed tremendous strain on the finances and thus the progress of the project.
Initially the plan was to purchase land and then construct 1250 houses - in 2 batches. However, because of all the problems, in recent discussions held, it was decided that 501 houses would be completed. So far, SPARC has constructed 370 - although they are still to be provided with electricity and water.
Thereafter, the community would use this learning to construct the remaining houses. A new site inspector was appointed and work has sped up. Let us hope that the subsidies come through soon.
The Rajiv-Indira Housing scheme in Mumbai inspired a similar design in Bangalore! This latter project involves the construction of 160 houses in a slum called Sunnuduguddu.
In 1998, SPARC was asked to submit proposals to the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB) to redevelop slums on 5 sites. The Municipality was willing to purchase these lands from the private owners, but was unable to afford to construct homes. In fact, if these projects were successful they were to form the basis of housing policy in the city of Bangalore. However, due to political pressures, SPARC was eventually only one site on which 160 families lived.
The Alliance had to overcome a number of hurdles along the way. The community was not part of the federation and it took some time to organise them. Next, the idea of living in multi-storied structures was a new one for slum dwellers in Bangalore and it took two housing exhibitions to convince them. Moreover, soon after the work began and the plinth had been laid, a private land owner of the adjoining piece of land took the KSCB to court challenging the boundary. In fact, he won the case and this resulted in the land available becoming substantially less. As a result, the finances for the project were badly affected. Also. the court case meant designing an entirely new layout and more loss of time.
The federation is now committed to complete the remaining 145 houses by the end of 2003.
An on-site supervisor has been appointed who now visits the site everyday and Mahila Milan and people from the community are undertaking the actual construction.
Bharat Janta is a settlement in Dharavi where one of the oldest federation leaders, Mutthu, lived. Inspired by the Rajiv-Indira scheme, 147 families from this area formed a housing society and approached the Alliance to help them construct new homes. The Alliance agreed and currently plans are under way to 5 apartment buildings. This project is also very important for the Alliance for a number of reasons. It is in the "middle" of Dharavi, and has none of the special roadside "edge" advantages of Rajiv Indira. In fact, it is more characteristic of Dharavi's slums and when successful, will go a long way to demonstrate that slum redevelopment can really be successfully scaled-up. Moreover, it test the Alliance's hypothesis that Dharavi has a "market" within itself and flats can and will be sold to people from neighboring slums.
Site details and layout plans were drawn up and submitted to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority in 2002 and permission for the construction of the first building was received in early 2003. In the meantime, leaders have been working hard to clear the site and help families either move to transit camps or find alternate accommodation until the buildings are completed.
In 2002, the Pune municipality invited the Alliance to construct 814 houses in the Yerawada slum in Pune. Families in this area will have access to the Lok Awas Yojana, a housing subsidy of Rs. 25,000 set up by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and the Pune Municipality. Any additional costs of construction are to be borne by the community itself.
In December 2002, the Alliance held a housing exhibition where 4 different financial and design house models of options were presented to the slum dwellers. Moreover, households surveys were initiated in all 8 areas - Yashwant Nagar, Bhat Nagar, Jijamata Nagar, Kamraj Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Jaiprakash Nagar and Gandhi Nagar. It was finally decided that the project will start in phases - and in the first phase, two clusters in Yashwant Nagar of a total of 23 households have been chosen.
Finally, since the cost of homes exceeds Rs. 25,000, the Alliance is also trying to negotiate for another government housing subsidy - VAMBY - to reduce community costs.
Although the 1000 people strong community that lived in in Bharathipuram slum in Iduvai area of Coimbatore were given land from the government 8 years ago, they just didn't have the money to build new homes. In 2002, the government decided to take the land away. However, after much negotiations by the local federation, the land was returned. Furthermore, the community have started discussing accessing government housing subsidies and covering additional costs through loans. Moreover, the federation has encouraged people to started saving for their homes. The Alliance will initially give some 20 or 30 households loans of Rs.20,000 to Rs.30,000 once they deposit Rs. 6000. The cost of the houses is about Rs.40,000 and each house is 600 sq. ft. However, there are no facilities for water or electricity on this site, and this will have to be provided after further dialogue with local authorities.
Land has been allotted by in Thiruvallur by the local government to build houses for 300 people who live in the Maduravoil area. People have already saved and deposited Rs. 5000 each. Discussions are ongoing for the Alliance to issue housing loans to begin construction.
Mumbai Sanitation Development Project
It is estimated that over 50% of Mumbai's 1.35 crore strong population live in slums without adequate access to toilets. In so
me slums, one toilet services nearly 1000 people. In fact, it is a well-known joke that if you had to wait in line to use one of these toilet in Dharavi, you might have to wait for 18 days! No wonder Mumbai stinks.
In 2001, influenced by the Pune model, the MCGM published a tender for over 10,000 toilets which would later be managed by community groups. The Alliance was given the task of completing 320 toilet blocks or 6400 seats in 16 administrative wards of the MCGM in two years.
The Alliance's architects designed toilet blocks after studying local conditions such as different community's needs, drainage systems and soil types. A Project Management Unit was formed to supervise the material and methods of construction and SPARC even set up its own laboratory for quality control at Dharavi where cement, sand, metal and concrete cubes were tested. SPARC hired over one hundred contractors and junior engineers.
The table below shows our work in the past year:
| Stage of Work | |||||||
| Month | No. of Work Orders | Started | Below Plinth | Plinth Done | Roof Done | Completed | Handed Over |
| March 02 | 191 | 136 | 10 | 16 | 29 | 37 | 44 |
| April 02 | 195 | 141 | 9 | 16 | 27 | 39 | 50 |
| May 02 | 197 | 144 | 8 | 15 | 27 | 41 | 53 |
| June 02 | 203 | 152 | 10 | 14 | 29 | 42 | 57 |
| July 02 | 205 | 157 | 10 | 14 | 31 | 43 | 59 |
| August 02 | 207 | 163 | 10 | 14 | 30 | 45 | 64 |
| September 02 | 209 | 172 | 9 | 13 | 33 | 47 | 70 |
| October 02 | 209 | 174 | 8 | 14 | 33 | 46 | 73 |
| November 02 | 211 | 177 | 7 | 15 | 31 | 45 | 79 |
| December 02 | 213 | 181 | 10 | 13 | 30 | 47 | 80 |
| January 03 | 215 | 182 | 7 | 15 | 27 | 48 | 85 |
| February 03 | 217 | 183 | 8 | 14 | 29 | 42 | 90 |
| March 03 | 218 | 185 | 5 | 14 | 31 | 39 | 96 |
Meet one of our community contractors
Rehmat Sheik, one of the oldest Mahila Milan leaders, has built many toilet blocks in different communities in Mumbai.
Currently, she is supervising work on two toilets - one of them in Andheri and the other one an abandoned and half completed one in Kurla. In the last two years, she's come a long way. She recalls the first contract she had to build a 16 seater toilet at Kala Chowk in Parel. " I had to remove 40 truckloads of mud! And pay lots of money for electricity and water. But the community was really helpful."
Her next construction was for a 46-seater toilet block and she employed 40 people. "It was really hard," she says, "I had to clear the filthy old toilets. The smell was so bad that I fell sick for one month and couldn't eat anything." It took 8 months to complete and, she says, "People would come to me and ask me where they could book for a room in the building I was constructing. Everyone was amazed."
Rehmat laughs as she recalls people's reactions along the way. One time I went to a shop to buy tiles and the owner couldn't believe that a woman was building such a large toilet! Another time, the Bank of Baroda Manager had a meeting with me. He couldn't understand how come I was withdrawing and depositing lakhs at a time - especially since I never had more than a thousand rupees in my account until then. She jokes, I'm just going to keep making toilets and doing well. Why move into a building? I'll buy a bungalow!
Infrastructure in other cities
Bangalore: Toilet blocks are being constructed in 8 areas and 10 toilet blocks have already been constructed. Another 11 lakhs rupees worth of construction is under way. 50% that money is from the government and the other 50% from the local federation. However, water shortage issues are causing a problem for many of these toilets.
Moreover, in November 2002, a footbridge was completed at Koramangala basti. It was constructed over an open nala and is even wide and strong enough for cars to pass. This bridge was built in partnership with the local municipality - a fifty percent subsidy coming from the government and fifty percent from the community.
Nasik: The local federation is negotiating with the city government to build toilets. After a group of local authorities visited community toilets in Pune, the municipal commissioner at the time told the federation that he would pay for the construction of similar toilets. As a result, the federation began to identify sites for toilets. 15 sites were selected. However, soon after, a new commissioner was appointed. Currently, dialogues are under way to support this project.
Kanpur: This was the first city where federation toilets were built! Operating in about 70 slums, the Mahila Milan and federation leaders are currently negotiating with the army to build a community toilet for slum dwellers living on cantonment land. And although the authorities are supportive of this scheme and have asked Mahila Milan to expand their project and build a 30-seater toilet (as opposed to the 10-seater Mahila Milan had initially asked for) they are only willing to partially fund the scheme. The commu
nity itself has also agreed to contribute Rs. 50 per household. Unfortunately, since water and sewerage connections will have to be laid as well as water tanks and pumps built, a fair amount still remains to be raised. The Kanpur federation is currently discussing terms for a loan from the NSDF.
Kanchipuram: In 2003, the Kanchipuram Federation built a water storage tank at a local school in the Madaiyur area which had a water shortage problem. This is a primary school has 4 classrooms and is attended by children from 7 neighbouring bastis.
Chengam: In 2002, the local federation constructed a bridge in Uthchimalikupam slum.
Kolar Gold Fields: Toilets are being constructed in 10 areas and 5 areas are already completed.
In June 2002, the Alliance resettled 1875 families that lived in Jarimari slum near the Mumbai airport to permanent 225 sq. ft tenements in apartment buildings in the Dindoshi neighbourhood. For the Alliance this represents an exa
mple of a win-win solution where both the city and the urban poor benefit. In this case, space near the runway has been cleared and it is now safer for planes to take off and land, and communities - organised into 27 housing societies - have also finally been able to access safe and secure permanent homes.
This project produced many successes and challenges for the federation. For example, although some houses did not have their names on the 1.1.95 electoral roll, because they were present on a detailed household survey that the federation had conducted in 1994, they were able to prove their eligibility. This is exactly the reason the federation encourages communities to lead and ow
n information about themselves!
However, compared to the Mumbai Urban Transportation Project in which the Alliance has already resettled over 10,000 families and is in the process of resettling another 5000 odd families, this project proved to be more complicated. A great deal of political pressure to include ineligible families was resisted by the federation. Moreover, once the families moved, some were instigated to lock their new homes and go back to the site demanding another house. In such instances, to ensure that the new homes were not sold, the authorities placed them under their own lock and key. Moreover, when the Alliance tried to construct a boundary wall around the cleared area, local goons prevented them from doing so.
These households form just a fraction of the 80,000 families who live on airport lands. However, it is hoped that new relationships formed between the Alliance, Airport and state authorities will translate into future peaceful resettlements.
Mumbai Urban Transportation Project
Santacruz Chembur Link Road: Part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Program (MUTP II) includes constructing a road-widening
project along the Santacruz Chembur Link Road. This civic works project, which seeks to acquire nearly 12,000 sq. mts of land, would cut through Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) property where currently nearly 12,000 people or 3000 families reside.
The Alliance is in charge of the survey, relocation and rehabilitation of families that live here. This project affects 10 slums - and altogether there are 3294 structures, of which 659 are commercial, 2605 are residential and the others are a combination of both. They will be shifted to permanent housing in Mankhurd. Although this survey and enumeration process started in late 1990, because the nature and specifications of the road changed, the survey had to be redone. In March 2003, the Alliance submitted the Baseline Socio-Economic Survey of these slums to the Maharashtra Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).
Ambedkar Nagar: On 9 January 2003, the Ambedkar Nagar slum was demolished. These households lived along the 
Byculla train tracks and were included in the MUTP II. However, since they were not moved because, although rules stipulate that there should be no homes within 10 metres of the track, at this stretch of land the railways said that they would only need 5-7 metres. Subsequently, since the authorities did not need the full land at the time, the families continued to live there.
However, at this point, the BMC, treating these households as if they were new encroachers, kept demolishing their homes. Also, the railways decided that it wanted that space to build a substation, completely demolished their homes and built a wall. Eventually, the Alliance managed to shift them to temporary tin huts in Koprianagar in Wadala, where they are now living, awaiting a permanent home.
Pune Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Hadapsar: This is a project that the Pune Municipality wishes to undertake before it embarks on a road widening project. In this first stage about 1200 households will be involved in a pilot project and this process will be 
used as the policy guidelines in informing a city-NGO-communities partnership. Currently, surveys are being undertaken to gather information on and identify affected households. SPARC has been invited to build 400 houses and the PMC will provide both the land and infrastructure for this. Each house is expected to cost Rs. 60,000. Of this MHADA has agreed to provide communities with the central government's Valmiki Ambedkar Yojana scheme, which is Rs. 50,000 subsidy per household.
Electricity Bills: In January 2003, communities in various MUTP II transit camps were hit with a electricity bill of 15 lakhs. And what's more, they were overcharged by 700%! In fact, the Alliance has been negotiating with the MMRDA for the past three years to solve this mistake. The problem lies with the Bombay Electricity Supplies and Utilities. For a variety of reasons, these electricity companies have been unable to provide individual metres both at these sites. This has meant that instead of charging low-income communities at 75 paise per minute of use, they are charging them at a commercial rate of Rs. 6 per minute! As a result, communities - who paid according to rates of the lowest slab - had their electricity cut off because their bill system showed huge arrears. But it was only in March 2003, that the MMRDA agreed to pay the difference and look into how the situation can be resolved.
Kanjur Marg: This is where the first transit camp for 900 households who were relocated before MUTP officially began live. In fact this resettlement formed the basis of the MUTP's two-stage resettlement policy. Ironically, however, it not being treated in the same manner as other transit sites. For example, people in this community took loans from HUDCO to build their own houses. Subsequently, all other communities received free transit housing. Moreover, families at Kanjur Marg have been included in the MUTP permanent resettlement sites.. All this has led to confusion about why they are paying for their transit housing. We are trying to resolve these contradictions with the World Bank and MMRDA.
* * * * * * * *
SLUM/SHACK DWELLERS INTERNATIONAL
On the 26th of October 2002, the Prime Minister of Namibia awarded one million Namibian dollars to the Namibian federation. 3000 federation members along with government ministers, the Namibian Housing Action Group (NHAG), and SDI members from Thailand, India, Zimbabwe, the Phillipines, Kenya and South Africa took part in this three-day celebration.
This event was especially important because it highlighted the strengthening relationship between the government and the federation. In 2001, the Namibian federation had been awarded one million dollars to construct homes for the poor. It had already built 66 houses and this year the federation received another one million dollars. Formed in 1987, the federation now has 8103 members in 13 regions of Namibia that have saved a total of 1.5 million Namibian dollars.
NHAG felt that the federation had laid strong foundations to plunge into large-scale housing construction. However, at present, the federation felt that many other issues such as unemployment, HIV/AIDS and income poverty dominate the government's agenda. SDI felt that the way forward was to see all these various problems as different parts of the same process. Thus, what becomes important is to find the connection between secure tenure, employment opportunities and HIV/AIDS. Most African countries are confronted with these issues and the challenge lies in being able to weave the all this together.
In 2002, SDI was invited by the Housing Minister in Uganda to come assist communities in Kampala and Jinga to
construct homes and toilets. This was the first time that SDI has been invited by a government ministry to work in a country.
The next few months saw many exchanges between federations in Africa - led by the Kenya Slum Dwellers Federation - and India to share their experiences with the new communities in Uganda.
In February 2002, the Ugandan Housing Minister brought a team of officials to Mumbai to meet with federation and Mahila Milan leaders. The next month, a large housing exhibition was held in Jinga and SDI members from India, South Africa and Kenya, Namibia attended this event.
Communities are now in the midst of constructing their first toilet and block of houses.
, Mumbai
