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How does the budgeting get decided for low cost housing in urban slums? How are the slums picked? And who monitors the construction?

Reported on August 19, 2010 from Bangalore , Karnataka  ι Report #34089

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There are different guidelines according to which an area is declared as &#39;slum&#39;. The Census of India 2001 proposed to treat the following as Slum areas: -</p>
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i)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All areas notified as Slums by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act;</p>
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ii)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All areas recognized as Slums by State/Local Government ad UT Administration which have not been formally notified as slum under any Act;</p>
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iii)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A compact area of at least 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.</p>
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Typically, the Slum act of a State, provides that if the Government or a Urban Local Body is satisfied that:</p>
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(a) Any area is or is likely to be a source of danger to health, safety or convenience of the public of that area or of its neighbourhood, by reason of the area being low lying, un-sanitary, squalid, over-crowded or otherwise; or</p>
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(b) the buildings in any area, used or intended to be used for human habitation are,-</p>
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(i) In any respect, unfit for human habitation; or</p>
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(ii) By reason of dilapidation, over crowding, faulty arrangement and design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors, detrimental to safety, health or morals,</p>
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The State Government or Urban Local Body may, by notification, declare such area to be a slum area.</p>
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The UN Habitat defines a slum as an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics-</p>
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(a) Inadequate access to safe water,</p>
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(b) Inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure,</p>
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(c) Poor structural quality of housing</p>
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(d) Overcrowding and</p>
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(e) Insecure residential status</p>
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Once these areas are designated as slums, typically in a State, there is a Slum board that is tasked with improvement of the slum. It is the board that then spends funds in these areas. However, the general system in India, particularly in the urban areas is that there is tremendous overlapping of funding and jurisdiction between different agencies. Thus, it is possible that different agencies could be spending funds within a slum. These could include the municipality or corporation, the development authority and the water and electricity supply entities. In addition, we always have MPs and MLAs with their constituencies funds and they spend their funds according to demands received anywhere they wish, including slums.</p>

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