PMC’s rehab scheme for slum-dwellers has no takers

The report that not even a single family from the Ramnagar slum, on a hill slope in Pune, is ready to shift to the 2200-tenement rehabilitation scheme built for them just three km away in the Warje area should worry urban planners and everyone concerned with Pune’s well being. The scheme was sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Under the scheme, the central government had agreed to a cost of Rs 1.65 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh per tenement. But the Pune Municipal Corporation's cost came to Rs 2.75 lakh and the JNNURM has refused to bear the added burden. As a result of these two developments, the PMC is thinking of winding up the scheme altogether.

This is an obvious example of how an excellent idea and a good scheme are wasted at the implementation level. It is difficult to fathom why the slum-dwellers should refuse to shift to what must be a dream dwelling for them. It’s a great chance for them to live well and in healthier conditions. They will have to pay just 10 percent of the cost and other charges for a roof on the head. But perhaps, they fear loss of jobs and other means of livelihood. Life in good buildings without the assurance of two square meals a day will surely not be an attractive proposition for anybody.

But the PMC is making a mistake in even thinking about winding up the scheme. If such good projects face some problems at the implementation stage, the right approach is to find solutions to them rather than giving up the attempt itself. The difference-of-price factor can easily be taken care of by some readjustment to the design or some negotiations with the JNNURM authorities. Even bearing the extra cost can be an option for the already completed work.

But the crucial part is to persuade or cajole the slum-dwellers to shift. Some of the reasons for their reluctance can be taken care of by better planning. If land can be made available close to the present location, nothing will be better. But that being an impossibility, the effort should be to get land as close as possible. The people to be shifted should be urged to keep going to the site long before the actual shifting and plan new jobs there. If they can get minimal work as soon as they shift, they will be more open to move. And if the carrot fails, the stick must be judiciously used.