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Mumbai is the financial capital of India and one of the most populated cities in the world. Over the years, it has attracted a mass of people or migrants from all across the country. Due to this, the population of Mumbai has gone up considerably, and the alarming fact is more than 50% of its residents are spread over in around 2397 slum clusters. These slum dwellers live in unhygienic, deplorable, unsafe huts or shanties called slums. These slums have come up on private lands; Stale Government lands, Municipal Corporation lands, Central Government lands and Housing Board lands.

To combat this, the State of Maharashtra enacted The Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971 ("the Slum Act"). The Slum Act is  “An Act to make better provision for the improvement and clearance of slum areas in the State and their redevelopment and the protection of occupiers from eviction and distress warrants.”

The Government of Maharashtra has amended the Slum Act and made a provision to establish Slum Rehabilitation Authority with a Chairperson, a Chief Executive Officer and other members pursuant to a government notification in 1995 on the recommendations made by the Afzulpurkar Committee.

Slum Rehabilitation Scheme - In the slum rehabilitation scheme, the slum members need to register themselves in co-operative housing societies. Thereafter, most slum dwellers (75%) are required to appoint a developer to implement their slum scheme to obtain permanent alternate accommodation. The slum rehabilitation also includes compensation in the form of rent for temporary accommodation or an onsite transit accommodation provided by the appointed developer.

As per the provisions of the Slum Act, once a slum rehabilitation is completed / slum building is constructed, the eligible slum members are entitled to receive a permanent alternate accommodation; residential (approx. 300 square feet carpet area) or commercial, as the case may be, at free of costs. The said Slum Act is meant for the benefit of slum dwellers, and hence they are not permitted to transfer or sell their flat or create any third-party rights thereon for at least 10 years.

In return for providing the permanent alternate accommodation, regulations provide the developer with an incentive subsidy to build and sell an equivalent area on the remaining part of land commercially. Both, i.e. sale and rehab components, are demarcated and have independent access. At today’s high property prices, the proceeds from this commercial sale offset the costs of slum rehabilitation and generate a profitable investment return for the developer and investors. The permissions for constructing sale component includes Letter of Intent, Intimation of Disapproval, Commencement Certificate, Occupation Certificate.

The slum rehabilitation programme is not merely seen as a charity policy of providing free houses; instead, it is a platform for upgrading the standard of living of the slum dwellers and their family members, including living in a hygienic condition, etc. The contribution of slum dwellers to the city’s economy – as industrial workers, domestic help, petty trades like fruits and vegetable seller, construction labourer - is applauded and appreciated.

To put it in a nutshell, the present slum rehabilitation scheme is an improved version of the earlier slum policies designed in the context of Mumbai. There are problems in the proper implementation; however, one needs to address the problems rather than doing away with the scheme altogether. India has ratified many international covenants, and it is the obligation of the state to bring about its proper implementation. The government must do everything to fulfil claims oh human right. If the rights to food, education and shelter are regarded as components of the human right of development, the state has to accept the primary responsibility of delivering the right either independently or in collaboration with others. It has to adopt the appropriate policies and provide for required resources – physical, financial or institutional – that it can command. The slum rehabilitation scheme, when properly implemented, offers a better and more efficient solution at less cost to the housing problems of our cities by involving market forces and civil society organizations.