AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has had a slum rehabilitation policy since 2010, but it has not been able to accommodate hope into the lives of nearly 16.80 lakh people who live in slums. The figure is 2.48% cent of the total slum population of the country. While Ahmedabad has the second largest slum population in the state, Surat city tops the list.
As for slum households, the Slum Data Census ranks Surat 13th in the country; Mumbai leads the chart with 11.35 lakh slum households. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area was ranked second in the country, with 5.07 lakh slum households. Overall, Gujarat has 3.46 lakh slum households.
Of Gujarat’s 16.80 lakh slum-dwellers, 10.14 lakh are literate: 6.15 lakh males and 3.99 lakh females. In Ahmedabad, 1.49 lakh slum-dwellers are literate; and around 20% of the slum population is of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories.
In Gandhinagar, 11,933 people live in slums in 2,446 households. Bhachau is among the bottom ten cities in slum numbers — 54 households with a population of 527.
Officials said that the slum population in Surat was high because of migrants’ influx. The census revealed that 16% of migrants live alone in slums.
Shanker Chaudhary, Gujarat’s minister of state for urban development and housing, said: “Surat’s slum ranking is news to me. I will have to look at the figures before commenting.”
Apart from Surat, Vapi — an industrial area — has also secured a dubious distinction. It has 40,000 slums and was ranked seventh in the country in slum standings
According to data, there are only 6.53 lakh labourers (5.39 lakh males and 1.14 lakh females) in the state. Of these, Surat has 2.11 lakh, around 45% of the total slum population. Ahmedabad has 90,183 labourers, or 36% of the total slum population.
Source:timesofindia