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The Pune Slum Census: Creating a Socio-Economic and Spatial Information base on a GIS for integrated and inclusive city development 2. Background Pune is a rapidly expanding prosperous city and the second largest urban agglomerate in the state of Maharashtra. The city has become a major centre for industry over the last three decades and is now also emerging as a key location for information technologies. Despite its prosperity, Pune continues to suffer from inefficient networks: bad roads, dysfunctional telephone and electricity lines, inadequate drainage, water and sewerage networks. Some areas completely lack these networks, which are vital to the efficient functioning of the city as a whole. In this context, a number of high-profile planning projects have been proposed in recent years. Plans have been put forward and discussed for a light-rail system and a large-scale riverfront improvement scheme. In addition, roads are being widened and resurfaced, fibre optic cables laid, and there are plans for high-capital investment sewage and water treatment plants. One example of the failure of various municipal departments to co-ordinate urban planning activities can be seen in the Mutha River Improvement Project. This project, initiated in 1998 by the Municipal Corporation, brought together a number of experts and prominent citizens to discuss proposals that included a riverbed road, gardens, restaurants and other leisure facilities along the river. Some 9000 slum dwellers living in 6 large slum pockets ii along the river and would have been severely affected by this Project. Part of this confusion can be attributed to a lack of will to consider slum dwellers as ‘citizens’ whose needs have to be taken into consideration along with the rest of the city. Slum dwellers are not considered valid city dwellers and therefore they are not included in mainstream planning. Yet, even where some provision is made in laws or plans for slum dwellers, the overall lack of comprehensive and up-to-date information hinders efforts. The result is inequitable and inefficient planning as well as reduced accountability of decision-making processes about the allocation of resources in the city. 3. The definition of slums Pune’s slum population is scattered across the whole city. ( Map1) The state of Maharashtra has introduced a number of Acts for the improvement and Clearance of Slums. The most comprehensive Act is the Maharashtra Slum Areas, (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act of 1971.  MAP 1: 379 households affected by the high flood line shown in dark grey. Under the Act, a slum is loosely defined as a congested, unhygienic area or buildings that are public hazards.iii The Act declares the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as the administrative authority to implement projects under the Act, mainly the provision of basic services in slums. In order to provide these improvements,the PMC “declares” a number of areas as slum areas as slums, which they think adhere most to the definition of the slum. since the Act came into existence.iv . However, declaration has now become the ‘holy cow’ of the authorities. In practice, if a slum has been declared (and therefore receives basic services), its existence is considered to be officially recognised by the local government. Undeclared slums, regardless of their conditions, are not considered eligible for basic service provision. This approach is problematic for a number of reasons. Most obviously, undeclared slums suffer from an extremely degraded local environment due to lack of service provision. In declared slums, urban growth complicates the issue. Over the years, a slum is likely to grow physically around the original declared portion of slum. However, the declared boundaries are not updated, so there is no service provision in the newer sections with the result that there is considerable pressure on the existing services in the declared section. Also, slums located on public land do not, according to the local municipality, need to be declared in order to receive basic service provision. In practice, services are only provided to declared slums, so many slums located on public land remained undeclared and unserviced. Under a resolution passed by the government of Maharashtra, slum dwellers that have lived in the city prior to 1995 are recognised as legitimate dwellers who are entitled to resettlement if evicted. Thus it’s a paradox that the people are legitimate but the slum in which they live is unrecognised and so merits no services. The implications of this for entitlement to service provision are inevitably even more muddled. See MAP 2: Jai Prakash slum in Yerawada, Pune, with ‘declared’ boundary superimposed.  MAP 2: 559 people affected by the Submersible road ( seen in dark grey ) in addition to the people in the High Flood Zone. |