Slum Clearance Board sleeping for 26 years without enumerating slums

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has not declared any new slums in Chennai since last 26 years and baseline data of Tamil Nadu on urban poverty and slums is inadequate, according to sources.

Sources told Express that the state has been a forerunner in bringing out a slum clearance act in 1971 but the irony is, it has not declared any new slums since the last 26 years.

The number of informal settlements and pavement dwellers is often understated and the city records of slums kept by the Slum Clearance Board and urban local bodies particularly in smaller cities are often not comprehensive and understated.

According to Transparent Chennai, the city of Chennai underwent two rounds of slum declarations, one in 1971 and one in 1986, and has not declared any new slums since then, so there are a number of unrecognized slums in the city that have come up since then.

Balasundar of Citizen Rights Forum said that, “Of the 242 slums in both objectionable and unobjectionable lands only 33 slums are located in private lands and six have multiple ownership. The rest are all in the government lands yet these slums were neither declared nor upgraded in the last 26 years.”

Interestingly, the growth in slum population has outpaced overall urban growth over the last decade and is a cause for serious concern. Slum population has more than doubled from a reported 23 lakh during Census 2001 (less than 10 per cent of urban population) to an estimated 59 lakh (17 per cent of urban population in 2011).

While the range of estimates for slum population in urban areas in Tamil Nadu varies between 59 lakh to 86 lakh in 2011, housing shortage is estimated in the range of 26-28 lakh.  The recent effort to map slums under the Slum-free City Action Plans being prepared with assistance under the Rajiv Awas Yojana is a welcome step in this regard, feel rights activists.

Box:

---Slums were reported in 63 cities and towns in Tamil Nadu.

----The range of estimates for slum population in urban areas in Tamil Nadu varies between 59 lakh to 86 lakh in 2011.

----During 2001-11, urban population growth at 27 per cent outpaced rural population which grew at 6 per cent.

----Share of urban population in Tamil Nadu will increase from 48 per cent in 2011 to 67 per cent by 2020.

----Chennai alone is estimated to have over 2 lakh families living without a proper shelter.