Tuesday 19 September 2017

Sheela Patel, founding member and current chair of Slum/Shack Dwellers International, speaks about, “Confronting the Urban Housing Crisis in the Global South: Adequate, Secure and Affordable Housing,” the latest working paper in the World Resources Report, “Toward a More Equal City.”


Take a look at the video and the link to the videos are here as well-

Sheela Patel on the Urban Housing Crisis #1: The Existing Gap Is Huge-


Sheela Patel on the Urban Housing Crisis #2: There Are a Range of Solutions

https://youtu.be/gn0kpwlYdpg


https://youtu.be/4L3mQ4C-SmY

Friday 17 February 2017

The story of the port trust beginning to explore the usage of 3.11 of SRA

Like other informal settlements in Mumbai those households living on Mumbai Port trust lands always thought they would never get alternatives.



In the mid 1990s they joined NSDF and Mahila Milan  to explore if the strategies of enumeration could assist them to document their settlements and explore alternatives.
The Indian alliance suggested that a particular slum located where the railway and Port joint venture wanted to use land commercially, let to MbPT finally agreeing to relocate and re-house slum dwellers on their land for the first time using the 3.11 section of SRA .



MbPT has always ensured that its lands were never part of the DP reservations. They have also only recently conceded to open space for the non toll road from Chembur to VT, and then to consider opening up the eastern sea front to the Mumbai citizens. 
In the surrounding areas of Oshiwara station there will be over 5-8000 slum dwellers relocated due to various projects. Finally by chance more than planning poor households will be within walking distance from the relocation site they were moved to



The Oshiwara business district fifteen years ago was full of tabelas full of buffalos  and was finally converted into a relocation site for re-housing slum dwellers, living on land needed for public infrastructure projects. The land use was changed  giving land owners who gave land and housing to MMRDA an FSI of 1 for the land 


Wonder why the lease renewal did not happen?

A very large part of Mumbai suburbs and extended suburbs are state lands leased to industry. We know that all textile mills factories and other such lands were leased as were salt pans.
Some ( all textile mills) are now huge gated commercials and residential areas. 
How come this was not done on time? And what will happen in the High court where the petition is now being made by the company?