Inclusive Planning processes and Institutional Mechanisms for the Urban Poor: Innovations and Lessons Learnt from Different Schemes in Chennai City

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1 Inclusive Planning processes and Institutional Mechanisms for the Urban Poor: Innovations and Lessons Learnt from Different Schemes in Chennai City N. Jothilakshmy and R. Arul Malar Abstract This paper is an attempt to study the projects under Rehabilitation Programme at, Okkiyam Thuraippakkam and Semmenchery where people along the river margin were relocated as part of the Flood Alleviation Programme around 2002 and Also highlights the various issues like spatial relocation, funding pattern, community participation, existing scenario, problems and the missing links from the beneficiaries perspective at the study areas and the future thought process. 1. INTRODUCTION The first recorded unorganized settlement dates back to 1820s and was denoted by shanty town. Slum was originally used mainly in the phrase back slum, meaning a back room and later back alley. The term has traditionally referred to housing areas that were once respectable but which deteriorated as the original dwellers moved onto newer and better parts of the city but has come to include the vast informal settlements which are only affordable by the vulnerable groups found in large number in cities in the developing world. According to the UNCHS Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, in 2001, 924 million people, or 31.6 percent of the world s urban population lived below poverty line. At that time, 43 percent of the combined urban population of all developing regions lived in slums, while 78.2 percent of the urban population in least developed countries lived in slums. The majority of them were in the developing regions, accounting for 43 percent of the urban population, in contrast to 6 percent in developed regions. During the 1990s slum dwellers increased substantially and it is further projected that in the next 30 years, the global number of slum dwellers will increase to about 2 billion, if no firm and concrete action is taken. Urban India is undergoing a transition in terms of physical form, demographic profile and socio-economic diversity. In India, migration has played an important role in accelerating urban growth resulting in transfer of rural poverty to urban areas. Rural migrants are attracted to the urban areas for economic reasons regardless of the fact that physical infrastructure in terms of housing, drinking water supply; N. Jothilakshmy, after doing Bachelor of Architecture from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram and Masters in Town and Country Planning from School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, currently doing resesrch on Formulating Form Based Code for emhancing the Imageability of the City a case of Chennai. jothi.lakshmy@gmail.com R.Arul Malar, has done Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Town Planning from School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai and presently is faculty of Architecture at Satyabama University, Chennai. arulmalar2101@yahoo.com 50

2 Fig. 1 Types of Slums Slums along seashore Slums along railwayline Slums along waterways Slums along road margins drainage, etc; is not so adequate in the cities. Cities have been the hubs of economic growth, but planned urbanization has been marred to an extent by the excessive demand for basic amenities resulting in deterioration in the physical environment widening of the gap between demand and supply of essential services and other infrastructure in these areas. Unchecked migration, particularly, has aggravated housing problem resulting in increase in the land prices. This forces the urban poor to settle for informal solutions resulting in mushrooming of slums and squatter settlements. According to Census of India, the urban population in the country as on 1st March 2001 was 286 million constituting 27.8 percent of the total population. The slum census 2001 in towns with more than 50,000 populations reported percent. This implies, nearly one out of every four persons resides in slums in our cities and towns. In India, slums are very high in Mumbai, Kolkata followed by Chennai and Delhi. 2. THE CONVENTIONAL APPROACH Central government and state governments are involved in policy making for the housing sector including the slum improvement and rehabilitation and the latter implemented the schemes through the housing boards and other agencies. Urban local bodies are involved in provision for economically weaker sections and low income groups, in addition to provision of infrastructure facilities. 51

3 Table 1 Five Year Plans and the Different Policies on Housing for the Poor Phase I (I) Housing and rehabilitation of refugees ( ) (II) Called for the construction of lower income group housing Slum Areas Act passed in 1956 Strengthening of local bodies to prevent the growth of slums Importance to improvement and up gradation of slums Phase II (IV) Land available for weaker section ( ) Formation of Housing Urban and Development Corporation (1970) promotion of housing to lower income groups and economically weaker sections Environmental Improvement of Urban Slums (EIUS)- provision of minimum level of services (V) First Slum eviction drive in Delhi Phase III (VII) National Housing Bank was set up ( ) Mobilization of resources for housing, provision of subsidised housing for the poor, acquisition and land development National Housing Policy in 1988 Removal of house lessness, improving the conditions of the inadequately housed and provision of minimum level of services to all Urban Basic Services (UBS) Urban Basic Services for Poor (UBSP) merging of UBS and EIUS Nehru Rojgar Yojana (NRY) shelter upgrading, microfinance and wage employment (IX) Housing for the disadvantaged groups Advocated packages and concessions to the private sector to provide housing for the poor National Housing and Habitat Policy 1998: promised shelter to All and construction of Two Million houses per year in rural and urban areas Draft National Slum Policy (never adopted) Valmiki Ambedkar Malini Basti Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) to provide or upgrade shelter for slum dwellers, average cost of 150 sq.ft costing within Rs.40,000 to 60,000/-, 50% grant and 50% loan which to be repaid in 15 years. Increasing the land supply for housing the poor Phase IV (X) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme, 2005 (JNNURM)- Urban infrastructure and governance, Basic services to the urban poor Public private partnership preferred State to be a facilitator and regulator National Urban Housing Policy, 2007 demand driven approach in social housing by the Government 52

4 These policies have helped to address the housing issues related to the urban poor in India to an extent. State government will formulate the programmes under the various policies for the slum dwellers according to the local scenario of the slums. The programmes for the vulnerable groups can be broadly classified as: Slum removal and resettlement at or near cleared site; Institutional improvement of slums; Sites and services both for rehabilitation and for new migrants; Housing delivery Bodies in Tamil Nadu: The Fig. 2 gives the broad outlines of the various stakeholders and Government agencies involved in the process of delivering the housing systems in Tamil Nadu; and Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) : TNSCB was formed in 1970 and the Tamil Nadu Slum (Improvement and Clearance) Act, was enacted in The objectives of the Board are: - to clear all the slums in Madras city within a targeted period; - to prevent further growth of slums in Madras city; - to give protection to the slum dwellers from eviction; and - to provide basic amenities such as drinking water supply, electricity, storm water drainage, etc; to certain slum areas until they are finally cleared. According to revised figures available in respect of slum households in Chennai corporation as per 2001 census, slum population is 8.20 lakhs (Fig. 3) and the TNSCB has estimated that the slum families in undeveloped slums works out to 1.70 lakhs. Fig. 2 Housing Delivery Bodies in Tamil Nadu 53

5 Fig. 3 Growth of slums in Chennai City Source: Census 2001 Year No. Slums Slum Population Table 2 Schemes implemented by TNSCB in Chennai Metropolitan Area Sl.No. Scheme Objectives Beneficiaries 1 Slum Clearance scheme Construction of dwelling units 69,594 HH ( ) 2 Environmental Improvement 1 public fountain / 10 families; 1 common bath 55,000 HH Scheme ( ) and WC / every 5 families; 1 street light / 40m length of road 3 Accelerated Slum Provision of services 50,000 HH Improvement Scheme ( ) 4 Madras Urban Development 1 public fountain / 10 families; 1 bath 25,000 HH Programme I ( ) and1 WC / every 10 families; 1 cottage 5 Madras Urban Development industry per 365 families; 1 school / 50,000 HH Programme II ( ) 100 families 6 Tamil Nadu Urban 45,000 HH Development Programme I ( ) 7 Shelter for Shelterless Affordable houses for slum dwellers 2,982 HH Scheme 8 Sites & Services Scheme Open plots developed with basic 1,473 HH infrastructure; loan period of 20 years 9 Pavement Dwellers Housing GOI:GTN:HUDCO (Rs.13,000/-) 7,787 HH Scheme 10 Mass Housing Scheme Construction of brick walls and tiled roof 97,650 HH 11 Nehru Rojgar Yojana Upgradation 14,000 HH 12 Resettlement under Construction of dwelling units 3,252 HH special problem grant 10 th finance commission 13 Resettlement under Flood Allevation programme Construction of dwelling units 3,000 HH 14 EWS plots in layout 10% of plots excluding roads provided as EWS plots in layouts > 1 hectare from

6 The government initiatives are thus, piecemeal rather than the holistic approach to solving the housing issues for the urban poor. From the 1970s the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board operated on the assumption that it could build a sufficient quantity of subsidized housing to meet the needs of all slum dwellers. The construction of large number of new subsidized housing units is beyond the financial means. Resettlement can destroy social networks and communities, and experience shows that new development can cost between times more than upgrading the conditions in the places where they already are. Fig. 4 Process of Relocation and Rehabilitation Programmes of TNSCB 55

7 Suitable land is usually scarce and resettlement destroys housing stock, compounding the problem of housing shortages. The removal of people from their homes in slums and their resettling them on alternative sites will involve cooperation from various other Government Departments like metro water, transport, electricity, civil supplies, police, education, health to mention a few. The process of the TNSCB s Relocation and Rehabilitation programmes is shown in Fig.4 3. CASE STUDIES The two case studies in CMA has been selected under the two schemes of Resettlement under special problem grant Tenth Finance Commission and Resettlement under Flood Alleviation Programme to a compare the beneficiaries and the extent of reach to the target people. 3.1 Okkiyam Thuraippakkam, Chennai Tamilnadu slum clearance board has undertaken major initiatives for construction of multi storey tenements at Okkium Thuraippakkam for the relocation of slum Table 3 Okkiyam Thuraippakkam Rehabilitation Housing Project Details Phase I Phase II Phase III Number of units 6,500 3,000 2,538 Area of each unit 17.7 Sq.m 22 Sq.m 22 Sq.m Typology(beneficiaries Two units have common Each unit is provided Each unit is provided participation) toilet and two units are with individual toilet with each toilet provided with individual toilet in a floor Rooms One multipurpose room One multipurpose room One multipurpose room and a kitchen and a kitchen and a kitchen staircase Two sets of straight One dog legged staircase per block] staircase per block Number of floors Two three three Number of dwelling eight eighteen eighteen units in each block Allotment of Alloted Yet to be alloted tenements Structure Superstructure Openings facilities Physical infrastructure Raft foundation with column running above up to the plinth level and capped by a beam Vierendeel foundation 2.7m brickwork with cement mortar (1:6), RCC slab GI sheets for doors & windows, concrete frame foe doors Shops, schools, fair price shops, community hall, health centres, open spaces, burial ground etc are provided Water supply, electricity supply, roads, street lights, bus services & terminus are provided (Convergence of various Government Departments) 56

8 dwellers and tsunami affected families. This is one of the biggest rehabilitation and resettlement projects in Asia. Called Kanagi Nagar, Okkiyam Thuraippakkam rehabilitation housing project has been initiated in1998 with 6,500 housing units under Phase I which received national recognition, bagging third prize in the all India low cost competition on squatter settlement. The objectives are to rehabilitate the slums located along objectionable areas especially in river margins in Chennai city and to clear the slums located along the alignment of Madras Rapid Transport System (MRTS) and the total sum of sixty crore for the project was mobilized through a special problem grant under the Tenth Finance Commission. The site measuring acres is located on old Mahabalipuram road in Tambaram Taluk, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, which has been witnessing high economic growth. The site was a low lying barren land with no cultivation, the proximity of the site to Buckingham Canal makes it prone to flood. Therefore, this project was constructed by raising this site above the maximum flood level of 2.2 m from the original level. Development was undertaken in phases as discussed below: Phase I: The site was organized into clusters, each clusters provided with a central open space surrounded by tenement blocks. The cluster was connected to the primary access road (16m) by 7.2 m wide roads. 9 m wide secondary road running in the east west direction divided the Fig. 5 entire length of the site into 3 halves (Fig. 5). The concept of common toilets and individual toilets has been incorporated (Fig. 6). Social facilities like parks, primary and secondary schools, shops, clinics have been provided in adequate number, but the rate of utility is very low as they fail to meet the expected standards of the residents. There are a total of 5 ration shops, convenience store for every 100 unit. There is also a proposal for a market in this housing scheme and 10 percent of site area has been allocated for parks and open spaces. Irrespective of the various facilities which have been provided, the locales have encroached on the space adjoining their unit towards the road for petty 57

9 shops either by temporary or permanent building materials. As the residents of units with common toilets are not very much satisfied, the later added units have individual toilets. Fig. 6 Phase II and III: The block has three floors and each floor has six units(fig. 7). The typical dwelling unit has individual toilets. The residents in the two units abutting the road have encroached on the front side either for extra space or for shops which could be a source of income for them. 3.2 Semmenchery, Chennai Semmenchery Scheme (Fig. 8) caters to tsunami affected people, groups who have lost their houses Fig. 7 in government projects like road widening, MRTS and also people living in objectionable areas. It has accommodated 3,000 tsunami affected families and 2,260 other families. It was developed in two phases with 5,164 and 401 units. Each plot measures 5 m X 13.2 m. Each unit has eight dwelling units with attached and individual toilets. Each block has two floors and the area of each dwelling unit is 18 sq m. The units for the tsunami affected families has been purchased from TNSCB under World Bank funded Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project (ETRP) at a cost of Rs.1.3 lakh under the Eleventh Five Year Plan II. Access road from Old Mahabalipuram to the settlement is 20 m. The main road bifurcating the layout into two halves is 18 m wide followed by service road having 58

10 Fig. 8 a width of 12 m. The width of the sub arterial road is 9 m while the other roads range from a minimum of 3.4 m to a maximum of 7.2 m In the layout, the services like burial ground and vermi composting yard have been provided at the extreme north west and south east direction. With respect to each cluster, the blocks are oriented to a focal point parks, open spaces or nursery school. Nearly all the facilities (physical and social) required for day to day life has been provided like schools, community hall, convenience shops, ration shops, pars, bus stand, primary health centre, etc. 3.3 Comparison of the Two Projects The following lessons could be learnt from this analysis: Space for the alignment of the MRTS has been recovered from the encroachments and the implementation of the project was made very successful; Slum families who were living along the objectionable areas i.e. along the river margins have been rehabilitated to well build neighbourhoods with all the infrastructure facilities; It is one of the massive rehabilitation programmes in Asia, whereby 6,500 families were resettled and rehabilitated. After resettlement the quality of life of the slum families has improved; Children of rehabilitated families were given schools from nursery to high school. The youth have been given job training and were given placements in some of the reputed firms through NGOs coordination; Women folk who were originally working as domestic workers have been given training to become skilled who have now formed self-help groups; and Health facilities were taken care of by setting up a heath centre. This project is considered as a good model which could be replicated due to the following reasons: Concept of sites and services scheme for implementation shifted to ready built houses to reach the original target people; 59

11 Table 4 Comparision between Okkiyam Thuraippakkam and Semmenchery Projects Details Okkiyam Thuraipakkam Semmenchery Social services Utility level of various services is very low. Strength of students in the school is low as most of them go to the same school before being relocated Open spaces are used for drying clothes People depend on doctors in other areas Number of typologies Two (G +1, G +2) One (G +1) G + 1 typology Common in both the projects Sewage treatment plant Perungudi Accommodated within the layout Surface drain People complain about poor Covered drainage system maintenance Solid waste Poor collection system Door to door collection Journey to the original place of Takes one to two hours to reach their place of work hence the work residents are finding it difficult to pursue their original job oppurtunities Street lights, electricity Damaged, misused Informal petty shops In front of the ground floor On the sides of the main units central road Encroachment Residents in the ground floor No encroachments in the have added extra space in front adjoining area. using temporary building materials Occupants Among the respondents out of Monitored 28 beneficiaries migrant households, 7 have rented their house either for higher rent or for lease Temporary dwelling units Adjacent to the blocks by the Informal settlement has come residents up adjacent to the R&R site Sense of ownership To be inculcated by a different approach as there is a misuse of services provided Alternate livelihood Petty shops Maintenance and Vermin composting in their layout Tsunami affected families Free of cost whereas the other have to pay the minimum amount Rs.250/- towards maintenance Poverty poverty is inversely related to female s earnings 60

12 Table 5 Difference Between Traditional and New Approach Traditional approach construction of houses by Government & its agencies may have to be abandoned due to several following reasons: Lack of availability of funds and high cost Poor recoveries given the economic strata for which the houses are built Lack of availability of lands Escalation in the cost of lands Lack of in-house implementing capacity, specially in respect of newer, faster building technologies Lack of manpower and organizational wherewithal to take up huge works Delayed execution due to Governmental procedures having to be necessarily followed and Indifferent quality of construction New approach Issues to be considered: Reconstruction, redevelopment using funds and lands provided by the Government in case of raw/ developed / tenements. ETRP and Rajiv Gandhi package (tsunami housing): 13,000 dwelling units (these are both reconstruction/ redevelopment and resettlement schemes and are coming up in several places in Chennai including Marina, Thiruvottiyur, Tonidarpet, Okkiyumthuraipakkam and Semmencheri) JNNURM:10,000 dwelling units (these are resettlement schemes for slum dwellers) XII Finance Commission: 5,000 houses (basically in the resettlement mode at several places including Perumbakkam and Semmencheri TNSCB land as well as raw slum land can be redeveloped through the BOT route by allowing private developers to reconstruct the existing dilapidated tenements /slum houses on a part of the land and using the rest of the space for commercial exploitation. Traditional life style should be taken in to account (fishermen) Initially one toilet for two units has been later changed to one toilet per dwelling unit on the request of the public; Issues on cost effectiveness have been followed as the approximate cost of one dwelling unit is one lakh and a sum of Rs.250 was collected from every family every month for maintenance; and Lessons learnt from this project were carried onto Semmenchery project. 4. CONCLUSIONS Demand driven approach should be adopted where minimum contribution from the target group could be made mandatory, which in turn inculcates a sense of ownership. Increase in FSI as per CMDA rules and increasing the carpet area per dwelling unit per the government norms, consisting of kitchen, bedroom, toilet, hall as per the pubic requirement. In case of relocation and resettlement, alternative sources of livelihood should be given utmost importance. Care to be given to the proper functioning and maintenance of the social infrastructure right from the beginning. Encroaching by the ground floor residents should be monitored. Awareness 61

13 programmes should be conducted periodically to educate the disadvantaged population. Women to be given employment opportunities through self help groups. Slum dwellers have to be exposed to the life style of multistoried apartments, which is going to be implemented at Perumbakkam, Chennai in the near future. Very strong community participation processes should be established. Present slums must be seen as the result of a failure of housing policies, laws and delivery systems, as well as of national and urban policies, mainly due to the absence of participation processes at various levels. This can be overcome by incorporating effective and active participation mechanisms in the grassroots level planning process itself. REFERENCES Batra, L. (2007) The JNNURM and Urban Reforms in Globalizing India, in Lalit Batra (ed.) The Urban Poor in Globalizing India: Eviction and Marginalization, SADED, CSDS and Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam Publications, Delhi Batra, L. (2009) A review of urbanization and urban policy in Post Independent India Chandramouli, C. (2003) Slums in Chennai: A profile, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, December Das, B. (1981) Urban Planning in India, Social Scientist, Vol.9, No.12, pp Dwivedi, R.M. (2007) Urban Development and Housing in India, New Century, New Delhi Government of India (2001) Census 2001, General Tables, Government of India, New Delhi. Jain, A.K. (1992) Building systems for low income housing, Management Publishing Company, Dehra Dun. Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (2007) National Urban Housing and Policy, 2007, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India,, New Delhi Risebero, B. (1982) Modern Architecture and Design An alternative history, Herbert Press, London. UNCHS (2003) The Challenge of Slums, Global Report on Human Settlements, UNCHS. CALL FOR PAPERS AND NEWS ITEMS The Editor requests members to send articles for inclusion in the Journal and Newsletter. Chairpersons and Secretaries of the various Regional Chapters and Committees of the Institute are particularly requested to send highlights of their activities for the Newsletter and articles for the Journal on a regular basis. Articles for the Journal may be sent as a soft copy (MS Word) as well as hard copy. Items for the Newsletter can also be ed to : itpidel@nda.vsnl.net.in Diagrams and sketches should be neatly drawn, labeled and sent as soft as well as hard copy. Editor 62