To make city slum-free, all slums to be surveyed by year-end

The decision to finish the survey this year was taken during a review meeting chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on June 12

Mumbai: The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) is working on completing the survey of all slums in the city by the end of this year, with an eye on creating a reliable databank for future slum rehabilitation projects and curbing the emergence of new, illegal slum settlements. The survey, incorporating biometric details of slum residents and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, will help make Mumbai slum-free, said officials.

(Hindustan Times)

“We have set a target of completing the survey of all slums in Mumbai by December 31,” said Dr Mahendra Kalyankar, chief executive officer, SRA. The authority will rope in specialised agencies over and above two agencies it currently relies on to complete the work on time, he added.

The decision to finish the survey this year was taken during a review meeting chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on June 12, wherein he directed officials to accelerate the exercise.

The SRA had, via a drone survey in 2021, identified 2,597 slum clusters across Mumbai, which were differentiated into 13,79,086 slum settlements.

Till Thursday, Pioneer Foundation Private Limited and Saar IT Resources Private Limited – two agencies which conduct surveys on behalf of the SRA – had conducted door-to-door surveys in 5,75,136 slum settlements while another 8,03,950 slum settlements remained to be surveyed.

Around 1.4 lakh of the settlements that remain to be surveyed are located on plots owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and both agencies are conducting separate surveys as well, the official mentioned.

“Once completed, our survey will provide comprehensive information about all slums in the city and prevent any new addition,” the SRA official told HT.

Slums that spring up after the survey can be identified easily, which will help in initiating punitive action, he said. “It will also prevent any attempt by developers to add fake tenants in SRA projects,” he added.

According to the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, residents of slums built until January 1, 2000 must be provided free rehabilitation tenements when they are evicted. In May 2018, during Devendra Fadnavis’ first term as chief minister, the cut-off date for rehabilitation was extended to January 1, 2011, but it was mandated that those residing in slums built between 2001 and 2011 would not be eligible for free rehabilitation, following a Supreme Court decision.