57% of Mumbai’s containment zones are congested: BMC data

More than half of the city’s containment zones are congested spaces consisting majorly of informal settlements.

More than half of the city’s containment zones are congested spaces consisting majorly of informal settlements.

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An analysis of the data published by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on its website reveals that 1,179 of the 2,083 or about 57% containment zones in the city are congested, as identified by the BMC. Over 400 of the 2,083 containment zones have been removed from the list, an official said. In 16 of the total 24 wards, more than 50% of the containment zones are congested, while six wards have containment zones where 70% of the areas are congested.

The civic body defines containment zones as “places where positive (cases) have been detected and that surrounding area have been sealed to protect everyone inside and outside from further spread (of Covid-19).” While it has not defined congested spaces in exact terms, a look at the data shows that it consists mostly of informal settlements.

A BMC ward officer from central Mumbai, on condition of anonymity, said, “The definition [of congested areas] includes both, places which are highly populated and places that are also not easily accessible making it all the more difficult to impose containment measures.”

According to the data, the L ward or Kurla, which is a largely crowded area, has 233 containment zones, of which 193 or 83% are congested areas. Similarly, H-East ward which consists of Bandra’s slum pockets has 135 containment zones, of which, 70% are congested spaces.

In A ward (which includes areas like Fort), seven to nine containment zones have been identified as congested pockets.

Pankaj Joshi, executive director of the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) said, “High-density and indoor crowding in informal settlements makes social distancing impossible in Mumbai. In all, 80% of the informal settlements live in houses that are less than 10 square metres.”

A 2016 survey done during the revision of the city’s Development Plan (DP) also found that the per capita residential area in the city is 8.3 square meters. About 42% of the city’s population lives in slums occupying only 33.96 sq km or just 8% of Mumbai’s total area.

“Slum-rehabilitation has to be looked at more holistically post the lockdown with more models of development like self-housing,” Joshi added.

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