Slumdwellers 72.5 lakh, live on 6.13% Mumbai land
The country’s financial capital and also the richest city, Mumbai, has a humongous 14.5 lakh families living in slums, said Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in the Legislative Council on Wednesday. Assuming five persons per family, the total slum population stands at a whopping 72.5 lakh. These slumdwellers account for 58 per cent of the total population of 1.24 crore, but are squeezed in a meager 37 sq km or 6.13 per cent of the total city area.
Chavan conceded that affordable housing is the most vexing issue in Mumbai and was repeatedly raised during his recent meeting with the Mumbai MLAs. Measures are underway to calculate how much affordable housing can be built on land encroached by slums with an estimated calculation of 500 units per hectare.
“If an estimated calculation of 500 units per hectare is taken, we are calculating how much can be built on the available land after setting aside the areas with reservations. We are looking at cluster development as it provides for good layouts compared to individual buildings,” the Chief Minister said.
Chavan also informed the Council that the President had given consent to the long-pending Bill that fixed responsibility on municipal and police officers for encroachments. “The President has recently given consent to the long-pending Bill. Once implemented, it will fix responsibility for encroachments,” said Chavan. He added that the government was reworking the rental housing scheme to change it into an affordable housing scheme.
He said a discussion will be held with the Ministry of Environment and Forests about the “discrepancy” regarding FSI to hotels in CRZ area after Leader of the Opposition Vinod Tawde questioned higher FSI given to some new hotels in South Mumbai.