BUILDERS WHO are taking active interest in rehabilitating slum areas must try to develop the slum area with hospitals with new technology, nursing homes, clinics, rain water harvesting scheme, vermicomposting pits and recycling units. These slum areas must be developed into self -sufficient slum areas. Existing hospitals and schools, clinics, nursing homes must be continued with additional floors or sufficient space must be given to for new construction.
Existing municipal schools with less area in slum areas must be allowed to increase the floor scale index (FSI), increase municipal schools upto 6 floors or more as per the need of the area, no doubt the children are happy with the mid-day meal scheme. Teachers are also happy as there there are less drop outs. But one look at the classroom and you realise the size of one small room with so many crammed, childrens on desk and seats. More floors must be allowed to build. Solar panels must be installed by the government in these schools for reduction in electricity bill. Just as there are sudden checks on restaurants and hotels, the health department must conduct sudden checks in these municipal schools, toilets, to see the pathetic situation these small children study in.
The mindset of slum childrens and individuals staying there needs to be changed. Here slum rehabilitation centre with 6 floors comes into picture. Every slum area must have slum rehabilitation centre. A questionnaire research needs to be carried out regarding the aptitude interest of children and individuals in slum areas and accordingly start classes, for eg painting, yoga, swimming, dance,singing, computer classes, karate, library, prayer room etc to channel the frustration, anger ,jealousy of stressed out slum childrens and tap their physical energy into productive outlets.These slum childrens easily resort to smoking, kidnapping, robbery, rape, begging etc.
Women problems must also be addressed, for eg if the mother and father, both are working as driver and maid respectively, then children crèches must be started in the required area of younger children. As also Internet centres and Public call booths or STD centres, pay and use toilets must be started by these builders. Open defecation must be stopped to reduce the spread of various diseased. There must be a Total Sanitation Campaign in these slum areas by these interested builders.
These centres must inform young girls and boys regularly regarding smoking, chewing paan, gutka, tobacco and related diseases like cancer, cleanliness, need for rainwater harvesting, vermicompost pits, solar energy, health campaigns like polio etc.
Schools in the day can be operated as slum rehabilitation centre at night, if there is genuine space constraint. However, some municipal schools do have night schools, so additionally, rehabilitation centres need to be developed.
Slum trade belts or centres must be continued in the specific slum area for eg in dharavi, plastic recycling industry, ghasitaram sweet factory, bakeries, gold jewellery trade, zari work etc undertaking must be separately allotted units or zones to ensure the employment oppourtunity is in their own vincity for the slum dwellers as slum dwellers always insist on getting relocated near their workplace.
Donations to these slum rehabilitation centres fund must be exempt from tax.
Some famous slums in Mumbai
1.Subhash nagar, MIDC, Andheri (east), home to morenthan 5,000 families.
2. According to Dharavi Redevelopment Project, there are 60,158 structures in Dharavi, of which 45,563 tenements are residential, they surveyed only groundfloor structures and did not include people living on the first and the second floor. Sources said that there could be additional 25,000 families living on the upper floors in Dharavi.
3. Ganpat nagar, off malad creek, home to more than 7,000 residents
4. Jari mari, Indira nagar and Bail bazaar, home to more than 60,000 families, which flanks the Mumbai airport.
5. Annabhau Sathe nagar, Shant nagar, Mandala, home to more than 2000 families.
Only after improving their standard of living, the unutilised extraspace must be commercially exploited by the developer .
