Hindustan Times ( 12 July
) carries following news report :
“ Miles to go before govt can make city slum-free by 2022 “
HIGHLIGHTS :
·
Target for making Mumbai slum free………………………… 2022
·
No of slums under BMC jurisdiction………………………………. 7 Lakh
·
Slums surveyed in past 2
years………………………………….. 20 %
·
Area to be covered………………………………………………………… 3307
hectares
·
Slum clusters surveyed so far……………………………………… 363 (
1.42 L hutments )
·
Re-development of clusters to
start after complete survey
·
Bio-metric details of residents being compiled to record the
eligibility of all slum dwellers for FREE HOUSING under the SRA scheme
Why such a SLOW PROGRESS ( which may take another 10 years to complete ? )
·
Govt lacks the staff to conduct slum-to-slum survey
·
Slum dwellers are reluctant for Bio-metric ID
·
Slum dwellers just don’t believe anything will ever come out of
this exercise
What is the SOLUTION ?
·
Some 50 km
from Mumbai , FIRST build a Satellite
City with enough 300 sq ft flats ( to be given FREE ) to accommodate the 7 lakh slum dwellers
·
In the same city , also offer
plots ( FREE ) , to businesses /
industries , in strict proportion to the “ No of Jobs “ they will offer to the slum dwellers
that get shifted ( without jobs nearby , no slum dweller will ever shift out
from present location / nor can he be expected to daily commute 50 km for a job ! )
Availability
/ allotment of FREE plots ( - and , may be ELECTRIC POWER ? ) , will attract businesses to move out of crowded Mumbai (
where Salaries / Wages are sky-rocketing ) . Such migration of businesses /
industries , will lessen the burden on Mumbai’s infrastructure
Salaries / Wages of 5 years ( for the numbers of jobs promised to be created by the
enterprise wanting those FREE
plots ) , must be deposited in advance by the allotted , with the State
Government
Govt to
transfer monthly salaries / wages ( through DBT ) into the bank accounts (
linked with Aadhaar ID ) of the appointees , after appropriate safeguards
This will ensure availability of JOBS to the slum dwellers , BEFORE they move to the
new city , eliminating the biggest resistance to shifting !
Can this be ACHIEVED ?
Yes , if we have the political will like that of the China – and ,
of course the resources !
Look at the following report
:
{ 10 April 2017 }
Beijing is one of the most crowded cities in the
world—home to 24.9 million
people in the metro areas. It's also one of the smoggiest, with some of the
worst air quality in the world. In
an effort to combat the city’s rapid growth (an average of 600,000 residents per year flocked to the city between 2000 and
2013) and the traffic congestion and pollution associated with it, China plans
to build an entirely new city to take the pressure off its capital, Curbed reports.
The
Chinese government recently announced a regional economic project called the
Xiongan New Area, which will be a new metropolis built about 60 miles south of
Beijing.
According to China
Daily, Beijing will remain the functional capital of
China, but the new city
will take over some of the general economic functions that have so far been
concentrated within Beijing.
The idea is that some of Beijing’s industry and business will move to
Xiongan, and with it, some
of its population.
With jobs no longer concentrated so densely in
Beijing, people will be
able to live closer to their work, giving them more transportation options
and cutting down on air pollution.
================================
Dear Shri
Venkaiah Naiduji / Shri Fadnavisji :
Knowing that China consumes nearly 50 % of entire World’s consumption of STEEL and CEMENT , is not going to
help ! But improving upon China’s pragmatic planning , will !