Invisibles of a metropolis: Mapping pavement communities of Mumbai
From Maps4change
Audience:
Government officials, political representatives, other concerned citizens lie lawyers, judges, journalists, students and other activist groups
Abstract:
Pavement dwelling is unique to South Mumbai and it is estimated that about 20,000 families lives in the pavement of Mumbai.
The government of Maharashtra has come up with a proposal to rehabilitate about 25000 pavement dwellers in Mumbai. The scheme aims to rehabilitate pavement dwellers in two phases from about 10 major roads.
The rehabilitation of the households is based on the cut off date of year 1995. To prove the eligibility, a family has to prove their existence before 01.01.1995 and continuous staying in the said structure till 2009. The name of the head of the household has to be in the voters list continuously for getting eligibility.
According to a study done by YUVA, on the annex II (list of eligible and non eligible people) about 50 – 70% of the people have been declared non eligible. This will result in large scale homelessness of the Pavement dwellers who again will be in a more vulnerable situation than before.
In Mumbai, the criteria of year 1995 as cut off date is regressive as other projects have been given a better deal. In the Mumbai Urban Transport Project ( MUTP), the basic socio economic survey is taken as the cut off date. This is the most progressive policy. In other development projects like Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP), Airport development, Dharavi Redevelopment Project etc, the cut off date is that of Year 2000. The denial of such progressive policy for Pavement dwellers is discriminatory and regressive.
Further, the rehabilitation of the pavement dwellers is being conducted without any discussion or consultation with the pavement community. This has denied pavement dwellers opportunity to discuss issues related relocation and rehabilitation like that of livelihood, access to basic services in rehabilitation sites etc, sustenance in the rehabilitation sites due to high maintenance costs, increased cost of travel etc.
The scheme is thus raising questions of both who are eligible and not eligible under the scheme. The scheme does not have any Rehabilitation Policy nor an Action Plan for Implementation. It violates many National and International guidelines particularly the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development Based Evictions and Displacement.
There is an urgent need to have a policy on the lines of MUTP which gives eligibility based on a socio economic survey and a rehabilitation package which takes into account the vulnerability status of the pavement dwellers and ensures sustainability in the rehabilitation sites.
The map tries to map:
- the pavement communities of Mumbai along with pictures to give the viewer a sense of the inadequate housing and the intertwining of livelihood and housing. - testimonies of the pavement dwellers - distance of the pavement community from the rehabilitation site with a direct impact on their livelihood.
Data:
As my organization is working directly with the pavement dwellers, most of the data has already been obtained.
Map Type:
Public
Our organization is constructing a website called the eviction watch, which is meant to track evictions all across the country. The map would be put up there or a separate web page would be created for it.
Devanshi
