The urban city of Chandigarh has witnessed decline in slum population in past one decade, reveals the census 2011 data.
The figures of the census 2011 reveal that 9.7 per cent urban households in the city live in slums. And, Chandigarh is among the five States/union territories in the country having least proportion of slum dwellers in their urban population. As per the 2011 census, the urban slum population has declined marginally in the city in last 10 years.
Chandigarh spreading over an area of 114 sq km has a total population of 10,55,450 people including 28,991 rural and 10,26,459 urban population. The census 2011 stated that the city has 97.25 per cent population living in urban areas and 2.74 per cent living in rural areas.
According to 2001 census, the slums population in Chandigarh was 1,07,125 including 62,762 males and 44,363 females. The slum population was 11.89 per cent of the total population of 9,00,635 including urban population of 8,08,515, comprising 89.77 per cent.
The experts attribute the declining slum concentration to slum rehabilitation projects and demolition drives conducted in the Union Territory of Chandigarh in the past.
The census defines a slum as “residential areas where dwellings are unfit for human habitation” because they are dilapidated, cramped, poorly ventilated, unclean, or “any combination of these factors which are detrimental to the safety and health.
While talking to The Pioneer, Aswini Kumar Nanda, Professor and Director, Population Research Centre, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here said, “The slum population of the city is now about 10 per cent of the total population. The slum dwellers population has declined slightly here.”
He said, “Under the slum rehabilitation project in Chandigarh, several slum dwellers have been rehabilitated. Besides, demolition drives have been carried out by UT at various locations here. These factors have resulted in slight decline in urban slum population here in last 10 years.”
The 2001 census had found 27.5 per cent of India’s urban population was living in slums while 2011 census had stated that figure has fallen to 17.4 percent.
The States with the highest proportion of slum dwellers in their urban population are Andhra Pradesh (35.7), Madhya Pradesh (28.3), Chattisgarh (31.9), Odisha (23.1) and West Bengal (21.9) percent. And, the States with least proportion (percent) of slum dwellers in their urban population are Kerala (1.5) Gujarat (6.7), Jharkhand (5.3) and Assam (4.8).
UT Admin to relocate biggest city’s slum
The UT Administration is all set to relocate the biggest slum in the city, Colony number 5 to the slum rehabilitation colony in Dhanas.
The slum rehabilitation project in Dhanas is said to be country’s largest project. About 8,848 flats have been constructed in Dhanas and over 40,000 people are likely to be re-located in these rehabilitation flats.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit the city on September 14 to hand over the keys of over 8,000 small flats constructed at Dhanas under the slum rehabilitation scheme of JNNURM. In 2006, the UT Administration had decided to rehabilitate all the existing slum dwellers of 18 colonies at eight locations in the city.
Chandigarh Housing Board was designated the nodal agency for the project. Over 25,000 families (as identified in the Administration’s bio-metric survey) staying in 18 notified slum colonies were proposed to be given flats as part of the slum-rehabilitation project. The residents will have to pay a license fee for the flat, which will have one room with toilet and kitchen and will be allotted under ‘Chandigarh Small Flats Scheme-2006’.
The UT Master Plan—Vision 2031 has proposed to make Chandigarh a ‘slum free’.