[Hyderabad Tenants Blog] Where is Shelter for poor, says Medha Patkar

[Sundar Paul]

National Alliance of People’s Movements Convenor Medha Patkar alleged that forcible eviction had been increasing in all the 63 cities covered under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. WhileRs.55, 000 crore to Rs.1 lakh crore was being invested in each of these cities, providing shelter and ensuring livelihood for the poor were being grossly overlooked.

She feels that there cannot be any cut-off date for providing shelter to the poor migrating tocities for work. Instead, governments should formulate policies to prevent migration. Slum dwellers in Mumbai and elsewhere had launched protests seeking sustainable and equitable alternatives by the Government. ‘Equity and justice should be the criteria for land distribution’,she pointed out.

When the governments were leasing out hundreds of acres of land at ridiculously low prices for luxury and commercial complexes, why can’t they provide land to the poor for basic housing, she asked. At least rented houses should be provided to the poor, she said. Ironically in every slum rehabilitation programme, through vertical development, builders had made Rs.10 crore to Rs.15 crore profit as the remaining land was utilised for commercial complexes, she claimed. Ms. Patkar also favoured repeal of the Land Ceiling Act to make available land for housing. Plots should be reserved for displaced people, she affirmed while alluding to the fact that cases were filed against malls in Mumbai for being built on land reserved for housing for the poor.

Ms. Patkar, who was here to attend the National Urban Strategy Meeting in Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad on Feb 05, 2008

Source collected from Hindu News Paper

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Posted By Sundar Paul to Hyderabad Tenants Blog at 11/02/2008 01:32:00 PM