Why housing is an acute problem in Bombay

BOMBAY, Jan 22.

The myriad of huts clustered atop the barren hills in the industrial centre of Powai bear testimony to the growing problem of housing in the financial capital of India, reports UNI. The huts, bereft of basic civic amenities, are the homes of thousands of workers employed in the industrial units down these hills.

These workers form part of the nearly 4.5 million slum-dwellers of the city who could not afford a proper house to live in. Their families like those living on foothpath and open grounds have been given ration cards and the right to vote.

The development control rules and regulations also contributed to the halt in the construction of single and double room tenements with common toilets by these investors who catered to residential needs of low and middle-income groups comprising mill workers and white-collared employees.

According to an official report, about 500,000 people registered with various agencies were yet to be provided residential units.

Despite the accute housing problem, about 100,000 plus houses are lying vacant as only multi-national companies and affluent non-resident Indians could afford them at current market prices.

According to the People's Participation Programme, an organization of Bombay slum reconstruction and workers house building programme conceived by the leading city architect, Mr Ranjit Naik, about 30,000 people register their names every year.

The housing requirements are felt more not only in the municipal limits of Bombay but also in the satellite townships of New Bombay, Mira Road, Bhayandar, Vasai and Virar along the Western Railway track and Thane, Mumbra, Dombivili, Kalyan, Badlapur and Karjat along the Central Railway.

The growing influx of people into the city is adding to the problem. The factor responsible for the inward migration are obvious. The sudden and huge growth of industries created immense employment potential which was sought to fully exploited by all and sundary.

The establishment of Bombay as the country's financial capital and the heart of economic activity gave a further fillip to the population growth in Bombay which has the best seaport, airports, hotels and basic infrastructure. Large-scale migration was witnessed from the Konkan. The Konkan has been for all-round economic development under the Maharashtra Government's rapid industrialization programme.

Why housing is an acute problem in Bombay, The Statesman, Delhi, 23 January 1995 [C.J40.230195ST].