While you struggle to buy a house with your hard-earned money, all slum dwellers in the city, irrespective of when they came to Mumbai, could get housing for a pittance, if activist Medha Patkar has her way

While getting a house in Mumbai for Rs 2 lakh might seem like an absurd dream, Medha Patkar seems to be on her way to making it a reality for every slum dweller in the city.u00a0 After winning the fight against the demolition of the Golibar slums, Patkar's National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) is pressing for the Rajiv Aawas Yojna to replace the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme in the city. If implemented, the Yojna will make all slum dwellers eligible for a house and rehabilitation, not just those whose shanties have been in existence since before 1995u00a0-- the current cut-off year.



People working with Patkar claim that if the demand is accepted, every shanty owner, irrespective of how long he has been staying in it, will be entitled to get a house in the city for a modest price of Rs 2-5 lakh. Simpreet Singh, coordinator, NAPM said, "Activists from our organisation will meet officers from the Centre and state level as well as the chief secretary to discuss the Rajiv Aawas Yojna issue on June 10."

'No cut-off on life'
Mukta Srivastava, an NAPM member, said, "There can't be a cut off date for human lifeu00a0-- having shelter and a roof above one's head is a fundamental right. Nobody likes to live in a shanty and slum dwellers, who comprise more than 50 per cent of Mumbai's population, occupy only 8 per cent of the total land." "Instead of following a cut-off date, the government should see to it that the country's villages are developed enough to keep people from migrating to the cities. When there is no cut-off date for the rich to buy houses, why should the poor be subject to it and be deprived of getting a house?" she added.

Prerna Gaikwad, an activist from Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao, who works closely with Patkar, extolled the virtues of the Yojna and said that slum dwellers stand to benefit immensely from it. "The Rajiv Aawas Yojna is better than the SRA scheme. The FSI is more and the area of the houses can go up to 400 sq ft against the SRA's limit of 269 sq ft. This translates into more room for the slum dwellers," he said.

When MiD DAY spoke to Patkar and pointed out that builders would be reluctant to take up development under the Yojna because of the lack of profits, she said, "The builders may not make major profits, but the government can make arrangements for them to get a profit margin in which they should be happy." Builders' take Builders refused to comment on the implementation of the Yojna. "If I comment on Patkar or her fellow activists, she may camp at my office," a builder said in jest.

Voices
It is a bad idea to give houses to people who stay in illegal slums. By pushing for this, the activists will burden middle-class people like me because the money used will be gathered from the taxpayers. If the government is so serious about rehabilitating slum dwellers, it should rehabilitate them somewhere outside the city.
--u00a0Abid Ali, software engineer

The Yojna should not be implemented. Space in Mumbai is getting scarce by the day and even people who have been living here for decades don't get houses. How is it fair for someone new, who builds an illegal shanty, to get a house at such a subsidised rate?
-- Sanjay Manghwani, business development manager