222 223 _Amita Bhide

From The Margins: The Experiences of Low Income Communities In vis-à-vis Changing patterns of Basic Service Delivery image credit_ Aditi Pinto image credit_ 224 chunk of urban population, which can no longer delivery has been considered a state arena by These are described below: 225 | | Basic service delivery - a be ignored or rendered invisible. As Robert Classical economists on the basis of potential The Phase of Negation

AMENITY traditional function of urban local governments McNamara, the former President of the World private market failures. Partnerships through Slums were seen as unfit housing and dens of AMENITY represents one of the most concrete forms Bank said ‘If cities do not deal with the problems outsourcing and contracting attempt to get crime in the initial years of planning and the of governance for urban citizens. Thereby, of the poor in a constructive way, they will deal over these failures, through partial privatisation. concern was to demolish these and replace with changes in forms of local governance through with cities in a destructive way’. Addressing the (RCUES, 2005). Several cities in have ‘acceptable’ housing. Thus, the Slum Clearance decentralisation and responses to globalisation issues of providing infrastructure to expanding, thus, engaged in partnerships in areas of Programme of 1956 vested the governments with can be expected to be operationalised through big and poor cities is the real challenge of date. service delivery such as electricity and water necessary powers to compulsorily acquire slum new modes of organising service delivery. supply, solid waste collection, transportation areas and redevelop them. However, there was A parallel trend in urbanisation in India is and disposal, operating toilets etc. widespread resentment against the demolition Low income communities who are on the fringes represented by the changes in the forms of that redevelopment required. Also, the limited of official citizenry of cities have been largely governance in cities, ushered in partly due to the While the poor in cities are one of the actors volume of resources available for redevelopment excluded or provided with minimum level of 74th Constitutional amendment with its emphasis included in studies which seek to compare meant that redevelopment could not match the basic services. Their experience of accessing on decentralisation and partly due to increasing impacts of changes across varied population pace of demolitions or the pace of growth of basic services such as water, toilets, solid internal and external push for globalisation which groups; there are few studies which locate slum areas. The phase of negation therefore, waste management illustrates the continuities seeks to bring cities in a competitive mode for themselves with the poor communities and slowly gave way to a phase where some and discontinuities in the discourses of state- a share in world economy. Decentralisation with seek to analyse the nature of changes in reconciliation with the reality of slums took place. provision and privatisation globalisation. its accompaniments has thus, unleashed new service delivery, if any from their perspective. Basing itself on the findings of focus-group contestations (Sridharan, 2005) between local The current paper, based on focus group The Phase of Tolerance discussions with such communities, the paper governments and within cities. Berner (1997) discussions with five ‘slum’ communities In 1972, the emphasis of government examines their experiences of accessing services, opines that globalisation creates citadels in seeks to explore this area and identify the policy shifted from programmes involving utilising them, changes in availability, quality certain localities, enhancing polarisations of continuities and discontinuities in the arena of redevelopment and rehabilitation to and terms of these services. These experiences varied natures and generally excluding the poor. service provision as experienced by them. improvement in environment through thus, become a window to an understanding provision of tap water, sewer and storm of changing governance of the city. Basic services, which include water and The dominant framework of studies today is water drains, community baths and latrines, sanitation, solid waste management, rooted in the administrative perspective, even paved roads, streetlights, etc. The Central The Context roads, community halls, street lighting etc. while it tries to be inclusive. It there by bypasses Scheme of Environmental Improvement of Urban areas are increasingly being recognised constitute a core functional area of urban the critical linkages between the past and Urban Slums (EIUS) was initially introduced as engines of economic growth, contributing local governments. The delivery of these present systems, and the rightful concerns of the in the major cities of the country and then significantly to national economies. This is services is a site where the interplay of these lowest hierarchy of the poor. The current paper is in the 80s extended to all urban areas as particularly true of the developing world where trends of decentralisation, globalisation is thus a way to bring the poor ‘in’ to discussions. part of the Minimum Needs Programme. the demographics are rapidly changing towards intensely visible, with all its convergent points, the urban. Simultaneous to this change in contradictions and tensions. Debates on The Evolving Approach Towards This shift in emphasis is related demography is a shift in character of poverty in privatisation, participatory mechanisms to Provisioning of Basic Services To the Poor to a number of factors viz. India from rural to urban. Urbanisation in India is ensure state accountability, corporatisation of The approach towards provisioning of basic a. Acknowledgement of unfeasibility of a thus, correlated with a) rapid growth of slums and local government functioning, in Corporation services to the urban poor is closely linked with redevelopment programme on a massive b) poverty. This phenomenon is well entrenched of new actors such as NGOs and CBOs have the evolving approach towards legalising the scale within resources available in the Southern, Western, Central and also quite therefore, often focused on service delivery. status of slums and the lands on which they b. Recognition of environment and a few Northern states. In India thus, about 285 are settled. It is also linked to the increasing neighbourhood as important million people reside in 5000 cities and towns As the boundaries of State-local or State- significance of the issue in terms of its intensity dimensions of housing in India. Of this, it is estimated that nearly 67 private sector-voluntarism are shifting and the numbers involved. A review of the c. An emphasis on a wider distribution million live below the poverty line and 62 million position and being redefined; public-private various programmes and polices having a of services as a more efficous use of live in slums and squatter settlements (Census partnerships, as popularly called in India (also component of basic service provisioning for resources as against redevelopment of India, 2001). Planning and policies have to referred as multi stakeholder arrangements), the poor indicates that they can be divided d. Tolerance and recognition of existence thus, contend with the poor as a significant are emerging in various forms. Service into three, roughly chronological phases. of slums as dwellings of urban poor. 226 The Institutional arrangements for implementing and notification as a slum area. The essential components of organisations and establish ‘slum’ level 227 | | the EIUS differed in different cities and states. In f. The principle of tolerance became arbitrary slum upgradation programmes as agencies in order to cover activities leading several states, Slum Clearance or Improvement in its application when combined with AMENITY implemented in the country were: towards nurturing leadership in the community. AMENITY Boards were created. The maintenance of the policies such as cut-off dates, notification a. Co-operativisation of slum settlement, The UBSP extended its geographical amenities was left to the local governments. as a slum. A study in Chennai (Gupta, 1985) b. Transfer of lease of land on which the slum outreach and tried to institutionalise A consolidated rental was collected from the notes how the pace of improvement was is located to the cooperative society, community participation, especially slum dwellers as a contribution to the overall roughly equivalent with that of demolition. c. Upgradation of basic services and focusing on the development of women. cost. The Members of Parliament, Members In spite of these lacunae, the Improvement infrastructure in the slum, of Legislative Assembly and Corporators Programmes represent an important d. Assistance to individual households for Another important contribution of the UBSP are given substantive funds (1 crore, 20 shift towards humanising the approach undertaking improvements to housing. has been its expansion of understanding of lakh respectively) for development of local to slums. They also paved the way for The experience of upgradation programmes basic services to also include child and maternal areas. These funds have also contributed further programmes to emerge. in the country is quite complex. Almost none health, basic education and income earning to supplement the basic amenities in slum of the city programmes could achieve their opportunities for women besides amenities to areas on lines parallel to the EIUS. The Phase of Acceptance envisaged targets. In Mumbai, for example, improve the slum habitat. Field studies of UBSP The phase of acceptance which was initiated of a target of 80,000 households to be given (Ghosh et. al. 1995) suggest that while the UBSP The environmental improvement in the 1980s while not a distinct departure lease to; only 19,920 families could be given was able to make some improvements, it could approach however, suffered from from earlier norms, consists of a spate of lease till the end of the programme. The norms not make much of a dent so far as the availability several lacunae, namely: programmes and policies which were sparked for upgradation were only marginally better of basic minimum facilities is concerned. The a. The limited overall resource allocation by increasing attention to the issues of slums over those of improvement programmes, non-involvement of the local governments to the programme meant an inadequate and housing at an international level. The which meant that upgradation was seen as in project management was identified as the coverage of areas and the quantum of International Year for Shelter For Homeless provision of the same facility at a cost. The major block to effective provision of amenities. amenities provided in ratio to number (IYSH) in 1986, the Vancouver and Istanbul most significant benefit of upgradation was of people for whom it was meant. Habitat Conferences, Earth Summit, and the grant of tenure and while this was appreciated The study also observed the positive correlation b. Rental costs of amenities contributed by International Conference on Social Development by slum communities; the political barriers to between strong leadership at the neighbourhood slum dwellers represented only a fraction were able to generate a greater commitment the programme were multiple and at various level and better service delivery, thereby of the costs of the programme. Besides, to housing rights of the poor and a search levels. It is this factor of political (community and asserting the importance of training for nurturing this low charge often misled slum dwellers for feasible options to attain this objective. city level) interests which posed the greatest effective leadership at the grassroots level. The into perceiving amenities created as ‘state The upgradation programmes initiated in stumbling block to upgradation programme. emphasis on convergence of services continues property’ and nothing to do with themselves. several Indian cities in the early eighties were to be retained in the current programmatic thrust c. Inadequacy of number of amenities, the one of the earliest responses to this acceptance In relation to provision of basic articulated in the National Slum Development high levels of pressure experienced by of slum settlements as housing options of services, upgradation programmes Programme (NSDP) introduced in 1996-97. amenities in use, non-involvement created the poor. Upgradation views slums not as introduced some key principles: Designed as a programme and basing itself on a situation where a significant number of structures to be destroyed but as housing a. Financial contribution by community in community structures (neighbourhood, groups, these amenities did not function properly. stock which represents an accumulation creating and maintaining a service and committees and community development d. Maintenance of amenities created under the of individual house-making initiatives and b. Involvement of the community in society) created under Suvarna Jayanati Shahari Improvement Programmes proved a serious ingenuity. It therefore, offers tenural and identifying the needed services, and its Swarozgar Yojana (SJSRY); the NSDP is a centrally issue, exposing the hiatus between creation of physical security to the slum community. ownership of the assets so created. sponsored scheme for the improvement of slums. assets and their maintenance and worsening These basic principles have, since been the relations between executing agencies The essential principles of upgradation are incorporated into several programmes of The components of NSDP are: i.e. Slum Boards and local governments. a. Optimisation of the use of existing service provision. The Urban Basic Services a. Provision of physical amenities like water e. The programme covered mostly public housing and infrastructure, Programme (UBSP) initiated in 1985 had its supply, storm water drains, community lands. The slums on private lands, b. Provision of services at levels affordable seeds in the Urban Community Development baths, widening and paving of lanes, while not principally excluded by the to both government and people and (UCD) Projects. The UCD programmes run sewers, toilets, street lights, etc. programme remained mostly uncovered c. Provision of assistance and incentives to on a pilot basis in 18 towns and cities had an b. Community infrastructure such as community due to protracted procedures of acquisition people to improve their housing over time. objective of strengthening local voluntary centers, health care centers, Balwadis, etc. 230 c. Provision of shelter which has now programmes and policies pertaining to service The adequacy of the water supply situation, in in certain wards is lost due to leakages and 231 | | been formulated into an independent provision in key sectors such as water supply, general generates complacency. Thus, while illegal connections. The norm for water supply programme called Valmiki Ambedkar AMENITY sanitation and solid waste management. there is a gradual movement from treating to slum dwellers is 80 lpcd (liter per capita per AMENITY Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) water as a humanitarian service to treating it as day) as against that for non slum households d. Freedom to states to formulate and A: Water Supply. a resource to be managed; this is a perspective which is 120 lpcd. Moreover, this norm forms implement schemes of housing Water supply is one of the most prized amenities which is operationalised only in the system the basis for revenue collection in slums where construction and upgradation in a slum. The Municipal Corporation of Greater of water charges. Efforts to regulate the meters are in disrepair (generally prevalent), e. A city sanitation project called Nirmal Mumbai (MCGM) which is solely responsible consumption of water, regulate indiscriminate though actual consumption may be low. Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as a sub-component for water provision in the city is one of the most tapping of ground water through bore well, to of the VAMBAY. This project provides privileged agencies in the Mumbai Metropolitan initiate recycling of water are minimal. The much Privatisation is being carried out on an for construction of toilet blocks which Region. This privilege is its capacity to mobilise touted rainwater harvesting programme too is experimental basis in the K(east) ward of will be managed and maintained by resources leading to actual development and a non-starter due to lack of will to implement. the city; ostensibly to improve the efficiency a collective of slum-dwellers. procurement of water in accordance to need. of distribution, plug leakages and enhance The current quantum of 3,162 million litres per The most significant change in water supply revenue collection. Water supply provision in The following chart summarises the day. is drawn from sources as far as 115 km. The provision is the adoption of the Water Charges the city thus continues to be largely complacent, evolution of approach to provisioning conveyance and distribution network of the Rules incorporated in 2001. The earlier Rules had often inefficient system with a large scale of of basic services to the urban poor. MCGM largely relies on gravitational supply very few residentials where water charges were unaccounted and unacknowledged users. It wing a combination of 23 high level reservoirs low. Under the new Rules, the number of user is guided by a philosophy of management Sr. Emphasis / Phase Programmes No. Programme Thrust at strategic locations through which water is categories has expanded to about 10 and with but this perspective applies to very few areas released in major outlets. The geographical price differentials ranging from 3.50 per 1,000 of function. Formal access is differentiated 1. Negation Slum Clearance Demolition of slums (1950-70) Programme and redevelopment & topographical location of an area is thus, a litres for residential and public amenities to Rs 38 by class and also by a host of factors such as EWS Housing key factor in the water supply availability to per 1,000 litres for racecourses, star hotels etc. topographical and geographical location, age Social Rehousing it. Headed by the Chief Engineer, the water The rules are also accompanied by the levy of a of construction, legality of construction but 2. Tolerance Environmental Notification and access in real life terms is mediated by other (1972-80) Improvement of declaration of slums provision function is linked with sewage at the sewerage benefit tax to the tune of about 40 per Urban Slums Provision of top level. However, the functions are segregated cent of water charges; a tax never levied before. actors – i.e. the officials at lower range. MP/MLA/Corporator amenities on below this level and also at the ward level. The Area Development humanitarian Funds grounds with ward level plays a key role in distribution, access, As a general rule, obtaining a water connection is It is to be noted that these conditions emphasis on physical maintenance and repair and grievance redressal linked to building permissions. However, water is made applicable by the water charges amenities while the central functions are related to planning also given on humanitarian grounds to buildings rules are significantly different from 3. Acceptance Slum Upgradation Community and development of water resources. Thus, while where occupation certificate is pending, slums, earlier norms which made: (1980 - Programme Participation current) Urban Basic Services Integration & decentralisation and conferment of control for public toilets etc. Slums did not have any i. Very few user categories; it was For Poor convergence water provision has been with the corporation formal access to water till 1976 when the Slum slums, residential, commercial. National Slum of services and Development programmes historically, a corresponding decentralisation Improvement Programme was undertaken. ii. Very low norms of water usage for slums Programme Creation of facilities to the Ward level has not occurred. Under this programme, slums were given free i.e. 45 lpcd as opposed to other citizens. and maintenance Involvement of local water through public stand posts. In 1988, slum iii. No provisions for individual governments The Water Supply Department is one which dwellers were given an option of obtaining a connections in slums. saw the earliest entry of the World Bank i.e. in the metered group connection for 15 or above The Mumbai Scenario 1970s. The World Bank has put in a cumulative households by paying for connection costs. This B: Sanitation A city with population over one crore and investment of Rs.13,952.70 million through three option is now restricted to slum dwellers who are Sanitation policies in Mumbai are characterised possessing of sizeable amount of resources successive projects pertaining to water supply prior to 1.1.95. The only means of access to water by a highly fragmented institutional setup (budget of Mumbai is equivalent to that and sewage. The Corporation, too generates for unauthorised slum dwellers is the maze of and a top-down approach. The Sewerage state of Kerala); Mumbai has much better substantive revenues through water supply, it illegal connections and bunches of smaller pipes department is thus, located in the Water indicators of overall service reach as compared has been possible for it to generate up to 40 per known to officials at the lower rung (Chawiwalahs Supply Department while the responsibility for to many other cities in the country. The cent of capital costs through own revenues. or holders of keys). The scale of this issue is such maintenance of public toilets is with the Solid following section is a review of the changes in that it is estimated that upto 40 percent revenue Waste Management Department. Construction 232 and maintenance of toilets in slums on slums. There has also been a significant shift in the city. It has also increased the overall performance of SSP (not a single toilet seat 233 | | municipal lands is with the Corporation, while in the nature of programmes undertaken. availability of sanitary facilities to citizens. constructed till Nov.98). However, as the SSP that on other lands rests with the Some of the significant changes are: AMENITY began picking up, the Maharashtra Housing AMENITY Housing and Area Development Authority ii. World Bank promoted Slum and Area Development Authority (MHADA) (MHADA) – a State Government agency. i. Pay and use Toilet Blocks: Sanitation Programme (SSP): which implements the earlier mentioned Sulabh International, a NGO with considerable This programme is a component of the conventional sanitation programmes also Toilets in slums were treated as equivalent experience of sanitation constructed the first Mumbai Sewerage Disposal Programme and adopted a policy of handing over toilet blocks to public toilets for a long time. The scale of pay and use toilet in Mumbai in 1987. Initially aims at delivering sanitation facilities through for maintenance to CBOs in slums. From construction was minimal in comparison to meant to provide sanitation facilities in places a participatory, demand-based approach. January 2003 a process of formal coordination need and the thrust was on supply-driven of public frequency such as railway stations, The Slum Sanitation Programme is also between MHADA and SSP has been initiated. provision, though with scarce resources bus stops etc; the pay and use concept has implemented by the Corporation but by the There is thus an actual movement towards largely drawn from State Government and the become extremely popular. Currently, there Sewerge department and not the Solid Waste a uniform policy on sanitation based on funds available with Members of Parliament are 136 NGOs active in the provision of pay Management Department as is the case for pay community responsibility for maintenance. & Legislative Assembly (MP, MLA). and use toilets whose number totals 1,300 and use toilets. Interestingly, the initiation of blocks. The Corporation provides land and SSP has also been accompanied by a change C. Solid Waste Management (SWM): The conventional programmes for water to the NGO and the NGO is expected in structure whereby social workers have been The Solid Waste Management sector is one sanitation for the poor include: to take care of maintenance. Realising the incorporated into the Engineering Dominated which has reached a crisis point currently. i. Toilets constructed through the MP, MLA ‘profitability of certain pay and use sites, the Department at a fairly high level in the hierarchy Solid waste collection and management is an Local Area Development funds which are Corporation has come up with a A & B scheme i.e. as officers on Special Duty. Initiated in 1997, essential duty of the Municipal Corporation. routed through the Maharashtra Housing cohere in a ‘public site’ of pay and use toilet this programme involves new actors-NGOs in Historically, it is the major function around which and Area Development Authority: Mumbai has to be accompanied by construction of a service delivery. Its norms (RCC construction, the Corporation was constructed and to date, has 34 state assembly constituencies of similar facility in slums. Almost all public toilet electricity and water connection urinals, waste- it predominates the Corporation both in terms which 29 have a component of slums. MPs blocks constructed currently are of the pay and bins, baths, platforms for children, life span of of work force and budgetary provision. The and MLAs have thereby been spending a use type. A good number of toilet facilities 30 years) are substantively different from earlier Solid Waste Management Department headed significant component of their funds (9- in slums are currently on pay and use basis. toilets. In order to avail of the SSP, slum dwellers by an additional Municipal Commissioner is 40%) on construction of toilet blocks. The are expected to pay a financial contribution of wholly and fully responsible for the cleaning number of toilet blocks thus constructed is The payment to these facilities is usually related Rs 100 per head to a maximum of Rs. 500 per of public sites, waste collection and disposal. in the range of 1000 – 2000 seats per year. to a per-use criteria. An innovation which has family initially and form a CBO. Facilities are This Department which has engineers at the These toilets prominently carry the name emerged in this regard is the monthly pass transferred to the CBO after construction to central level is numerically dominated by of the MP/MLA sponsoring the same. which can be used by an entire family thereby take care of maintenance. Maintenance costs labourers. The total staff strength is about ii. Maintenance and Repair of public cutting down on cost of use substantively. (expected to be between Rs. 20-50) are fixed 87,000 with several workers being hired on toilets through amounts budgeted in The construction and maintenance of public by the CBO. From 1997-2005, 328 toilet blocks a daily basis to compensate for absence. the Municipal Corporation: about Rs toilet blocks on pay and use basis was a largely with 8,400 seats have been constructed so far 10 crore is spent annually on this item undefined policy arena until recently. In Feb through the SSP. The SSP has initiated a new The Supreme Court guidelines on Waste every year by the Corporation. 2005, a survey of pay and use toilets was carried dimension-the NGO-contractor partnership into Management further notified through a out in G(South) and H(West) wards. The survey the delivery of basic services. Plans to launch circular of the Government of India represent It is to be noted that all these above programmes found that 90% toilets were in a bad state with the next phase of SSP are already underway. a significant benchmark in this otherwise constuct ‘free’ toilets with no contribution from broken doors, pans and poor exteriors. This was locally bounded sector. The increase in waste slum communities, The maintenance is also inspite of the fact that 72% blocks fetched an iii. There has been a move towards a single, generated ( about 41% between 1994-01 as taken care of by the Corporation. The cost of earning of Rs 800-1,200 per day. Guidelines for uniform policy on construction of sanitation per Rathi, forthcoming), emerging saturation construction is between Rs 20,000-25,000 per construction of such blocks and processes for facilities. The first step in this direction was a points of existing land fill sites (4-5 years as per toilet seat. No water or electricity connections monitoring of these faculties have thus, been government resolution that toilets in municipal MCGM offcials), difficulties in identifying new are provided. Access to these toilets is open initiated for the first time. The popularity of lands could be only constructed through the land fill sites, spirally costs of transportation to public. In the last decade, sanitation has the pay and use concept has to be seen in the SSP. This was received with a lot of critique have compelled the Corporation to address emerged as one of the priority issues vis-à-vis light of large numbers of floating population from municipal councilors who bashed the poor this issue on a priority basis and introduce 236 several innovations. It is estimated that currently b. Hyderabad pattern: This is an line and the abattoir; it was settled in done. As people in Ketkipada said, “Paying the 237 | | 5,500 tonnes of solid waste is generated in experiment in involving NGOs and 1960s and is located on railway land. Sunderbag contractor is necessary. How can we otherwise Mumbai everyday. This waste includes debris, CBOs in cleaning of roads at night. AMENITY in F (South) is a pavement dwelling settlement ensure that even the work allotted is complete?” AMENITY organic waste, plastic, and hospital waste in c. Parivatan Project: This is a project aimed at of about 150 households. The communities large quantities. Waste generation also follows removal of all solid waste collection points thus, represent the complex and heterogenous Across different services, water is seen as a class pattern with a rich family generating along major roads and facilitating household location of the 1959 slum settlements in Mumbai. most critical need by communities and 4-5 kg of waste per day, a middle class family collection of waste. The work is carried out considered most difficult to access. Access between 1-3 kg and a slum dwelling family through regular municipal employees. Establishing Access To Services to toilets has improved in the last ten years between 250-500 gm per day. (BPCT, 2004). The d. Slum Adoption Scheme: This was initiated The experience of accessing services is one with the introduction of pay and use toilets. amount of waste generated in slums is thus, low. in 2001 in the background of a legal order characterised by struggle and vulnerability. Tata Thus, Tata Nagar, Sunderbag which are However, slum areas remain largely unserved that ‘regular work cannot be contracted Nagar and Sunderbag to date have no official characterised by a general lack of amenities areas with few private arrangements for clearing out by the Corporation’. The Corporation access to water. Residents of Tata Nagar buy have access to toilets on pay and use basis. waste, and absence of municipal services. with a position that solid waste collection in water from neighbouring slums at Rs. 5 per can While systems of solid waste management slums is not its regular work came up with a of 15 liters. Water for washing clothes costs are not in place in all the communities, they A study in Mumbai identifies that while the programme of involving CBOs in collection about Rs.50-60. Sunderbag residents earlier are not perceived as a major requirement by total budget for SWM in the city in 2003-04 and cleaning of slum areas. The CBOs are accessed water from Sewri Railway station by communities after all, ‘we clear the community was Rs 453.22 crore, the budget allocation expected to be registered organisations. paying platform attendants Rs. 2 per month; the ourselves once a week what’s the need?’ for SWM formed only 12% of this budget. The Corporation gives them some payment station is 2 km away from the community. Now Conversely, recycling of waste is one area, for these services but the CBOs are also they access water from slum dwellers nearby at Maintaining Services which employs Mumbai’s poor to a very large expected to receive household contributions Rs. 2 per can. In Ganpat Patil Nagar, there are 4 If establishing access to services is a story extent. About 1,00,000 people are estimated to between Rs 10-20 per month in the areas official meters covering about 50 households. of struggle and organisation, maintenance work in garbage-related activities. This is also that they serve. The Slum Adoption Scheme of services is an area which reflects no a sector where NGO involvement has assumed has spread fairly rapidly. As of now, there However, they cut the water mains in connivance acknowledgement of costs and contributions a significant presence in the last decade. The are 256 CBOs who are engaged in this with local officials and access water. Whenever of people. In Ketkipada and Mandala, people programmatic innovations are thus directed programme covering 45% slum population. they are caught they have to pay a collective on the upper side have to use pumps to towards extending services to unserved areas, fine of Rs 20,000 after which the regular draw water. In Sunderbag, water is bought involving more private operations, CBOs The Unofficial Picture: Experiences arrangement continues. In Ketkipade certain collectively so that all cans are placed on a and NGOs and engaging in partnerships. of Communities sections of residents eg: those staying on forest handcart and transported. Several residents Locating the communities: Services to slums are land are excluded from these connections; they in Mandala have constructed private toilets Some of the new initiatives ushered in closely linked to the period of their settlement, depend on public standposts. Mandala village and connected them to nullahs. In the same the arena of solid waste management are: their legal recognition as slums ownership is perhaps the most privileged. Its only water community, there is a strict ban on allowing a. Advanced Locality Management (ALM): of land on which they are settled. It is in this source till 1970 was through the MLA fund. Now children to shit outside on open drains. Based on the concept of citizen-Corporation connection that locating the communities which everyone has a tap in the house through group partnership in waste segregation, processing were studied is important. Ketkipada in the R connections but people located along the top In Ganpat Patil Nagar, Sunderbag, Tata Nagar and disposal. The ALMs are locality-based (North) ward of Mumbai is a community situated do not get any water due to less pressure. where there no solid waste collection systems; citizen groups who have introduced the partly on Collector’s land and partly on forest the practice of once a week cleaning is regular. idea of segregation and management land. Its settlement began in the eighties and The story of water is repeated in stories that Municipal employees are paid by residents or organic waste at or near source. The the current population is around 5,000. Ganpat people have in accessing other services. of Mandala to clean the toilets once a week. ALMs have gradually taken on agendas Patil Nagar in R(North) ward with a population Establishing official access to amenities has not However, in formalising the participation of much wider than solid waste management. of 15000 began settling down in 1992 but is been a smooth process in any community. It has people through programmes, something goes They have federated themselves at ward still not recognized as a slum as it is located meant bribing officials, multiple representations, amiss. About 2,000 households do not pay their and city levels and intervened in issues on privately owned land. Mandala Gaon in M to politicians and often beginning with non- monthly contributions to the Slum Adoption of governance. However, there are very (East) ward is a village resettled in 1973 and the official means of access. Even after a scheme Scheme. Thus, 3,000 households who pay carry few ALMs in slum areas. Out of 625 ownership of land on which it is located is in is granted, people have to pay the contractor the burden of servicing 5,000 households in ALMs in the city, none are in slums. dispute. Tata Nagar is located along the railway and the councilor to ensure that the work is Ketkipada. There is thus, an obvious mismatch. 238 Costs incurred by communities in accessing and commercial rates; low water pressure often party workers. The dependence on political Relationship with Service- 239 | | maintaining services are unacknowledged by compels CBOs to use tankers. Similarly, in representatives, particularly corporators remains Providing Institutions. government their contributions are disregarded. provision of shared water supply connection AMENITY untouched but there is a new awareness. The The service providing institutions particularly the AMENITY costs which include standardised fees and residents of Ganpat Patil Nagar are trying to get Corporation play a critical role in maintenance However, participation of people in ‘schemes’ cost on infrastructure (pipes, faucets, meter) the settlement recognized as a legal slum since of facilities. The Corporation is seen as an is partial. This dichotomy can only be explained are quite substantive ranging from Rs 3,000- 2000. They describe their experience thus ‘we essential institution which has its weaknesses by lack of dialogue and a reluctance to fit into 6,000 in the case of communities studied. are a large settlement of 15,000 households. but which responds at least in a delayed, apriori structured notions of participation. The assumption of minimum consumption We elected Ms.X on the assurances that we fragmented fashion. All the communities at 90 lpcd often means households have to will get recognition and amenities. We also studied do not perceive any service- The Pay and Use syndrome pay more. The Re 1 difference in pricing of incurred the cost of the survey for the same in provider taking on roles of the Corporation. The focus of the current mode of basic water to buildings (Rs 4.50 per 1,000 litres) 2003. Nothing has happened yet. Politicians The mention of privatisation is resisted service delivery is on ‘pay and use’. As and slums (Rs 3.50 per 1,000 litres) is almost should be beat up, made more accountable.’ unilaterally as it is not seen as coterminous discussed earlier, all communities pay negated by this assumption of minimum with improved quality of services but rather for services in some form or other. consumption. In Mandala village, residents This narrative reflects an understanding of the with loss of hobs and less human power. spoke of how the meter reading is not taken power of numbers which matters in elections and However, the Corporation too is seen However, pay and use generates some for months together and how the water bills the frustration that this power doesn’t seem to as an unfriendly institution which dimensions which are distinct from which average around Rs 120 per month work in their case when it came to bureaucratic has to be accessed through these payments. Some of these are: suddenly shoot up to Rs 400 in certain months. decisions. Sunderbag residents similarly see a. Party workers in the case of i. In Sunderbag and Tata Nagar where only their weakness as ‘why will the corporator care Mandala and Ketkipada pay and use toilets are available there are The implications of these unacknowledged costs for us? After all, we are only 150 households. b. Corporation workers who are households who have been refused access is further exclusion based on ability to pay. See all these slums around. We settled before also resident to the area to them in case of delayed payments. them, but they possess all amenities, we c. Other local ‘social workers’. It is only then that The monthly pass costs between Rs 60- The Political Representatives as providers: don’t’. Mandala village of 300 households is a any cognisance of grievances is possible. 70. Exclusion based on ability to pay is Conventionally, it has been political traditional stronghold of Bharatiya Janata Party, This reflects how even the ‘decentralised’ a definite dimension of pay and use. representatives who facilitate sponsorship of a political party which has not had a strong base system in Mumbai is too humongous for ii. Programmes of MHADA or MCGM have amenities in slums. Has the change to ‘demand- in the Corporation but has been in power at personal contacts to be possible. The now started handing over toilets to CBOs. based, participatory’ programmes affected the the State and National level. It also functions sheer lack of amenities in proportion to the While this has resulted in a greater sense of nature of relationship that communities have with through multiple cadre-building units. Yet in population in areas is recognised by people ownership of facilities, it has also bounded these service providers. Sunderbag residents words of the residents ‘we have contributed in all these communities. However, even the access. Earlier toilets were ‘public’ say ‘we have gone often to the corporator, to the success of the party. The last corporator the curses accompanying the Corporation even adjoining slum communities which particularly to ask for water connection and was a resident of our area. He gave us toilets, presume it to be the service-provider. did not possess toilets could use them. toilets. Two years ago, we were told that we constructed puccca drains we brought in group However, now the use has been restricted could not get any of these as we are illegal connections through MLA fund. But the current Do we have a choice? to those who had paid contributed and pavement dwellers. We now go to a BGO. corporator does not belong to our area. He Once of the most recurrent become members of the CBOs. Sahib has assured us that we will all get a has not taken interest in our needs. But we themes which emerged in all the iii. The financial contributions in all services are rehabilitation house in a building where there are vigilant. We are very prompt in lodging discussions was the above one. distinct from each other; there is no integrated will be toilets and water. We are now waiting complaints. Besides official channels, we use 1. Programmes emerge in a top-down cost. A slum dwelling household thus, has for it to happen’. A new actor-NGO has thus channels of the party too. This pays results. fashion, are based on assumptions of to pay separately for toilets, solid waste been introduced on the scene. There were no need, demand and nature of participation management, water to different agencies. NGOs in the other four communities engaged This sense of local assertion, consciousness of and are devoid of real engagement of It places an additional load on living costs. in provision of basic amenities. In Ketkipada strength perhaps subtly changes the nature of people in making informed choices. iv. Several costs incurred by people are totally which has a Slum Adoption Scheme, the CBO relationship with representatives. However, the 2. Neither the State-as-provider model nor the ignored in the programmes. Thus, in the is engaged in service delivery but residents do vulnerability generated by the fact that they decentralised, civil-society based governance SSP toilets are assured electricity and water. not see this as a change as it is operated in the have to depend on political representatives model seem to offer the slum dwellers any However, water supplied is charged at leadership of the corporator and his political for infrastructural needs is yet untouched. kind of choice. As Ganiamma from Sunderbag 240 put it ‘Who has asked us what we want? programmes. These contributions are 241 | Earlier we went in the open because there currently at low levels representing only

AMENITY were no toilets. Now there are buildings on a fraction of the cost of service. However, the open space and this pay and use toilet given the simultaneous failure to account has been constructed. We just have to abide for all real costs incurred by communities

with it’. The story of access to water supply and the tendency to separate each Jaideep Gupte image credit_ is similar. ‘Ten years ago we bought water service in terms of delivery and costing; from the railway station at 2.5 km distance this can result in further exclusions. and paid off the attendants. Now we pay the d. Both the State-centric and civil society slum dwellers from whom we access water forms of governance share an exclusivist at Rs 2 per can. The slum is closer. Where character. However, the change in nature does the question of choice arise in this of services from open, public systems to situation? It is a tale of people surviving and bounded, regulated-use based on payment coping with their backs against the wall.’ is significant. It has implications for the 3. This thus represents a significant continuity ability to accommodate other groups with the earlier models of governance. The formally excluded from access to services. exclusivist character of urban governance e. Certain services eg: toilets, solid waste thus appears to be unchanged. management register an improvement in quality. However, issues related to water What has changed? supply and sanitation are abound. In several With both the official and the unofficial pictures ways, these are also more difficult arenas to of programmes in place, tracking the changes tackle as they relate to service systems which in governance becomes a daunting task. There are integrated with the city networks; they are more continuities than discontinuities in cannot be disaggregated. The dichotomy in the trajectories of a state-centric centralised standards of services to the poor and their model of city governance in vogue currently. separation from the city thus, continues. Some dimensions of these continuities and discontinuities are: Conclusion a. The official change from ‘negation’ to The focus of several studies on governance ‘acceptance’ is not reflected in the reality in cities and mega cities in particular is based of several slum communities. What is on an assumption that globalisation and prevalent is tolerance which has existed decentralisation are major processes impacting the nature of governance. The current study since the 70s; subsequent changes have argues that from the perspective of low-income been more in terms of nomenclatures communities; these processes and changes and terms of service delivery. are not disjuncts. Rather they are extensions of b. The entry of NGOs and CBOS in service earlier exclusivist processes. There are therefore, ______References delivery is an important arena of change. This more continuities than discontinuities in the Selja Kumari (2005), Inaugural Speechin RCUES(2005). Report on Public-Private Rathi, S. (forthcoming). Optimisation Model for has definitely brought in an extension and experiences of slum communities. Proceedings of National Conference on Partnerships In Urban Management by Regional Integrated Municipal Social Waste Management further outreach of programmes. However, Urban Poverty Alleviation 18-19 June, 2005. Centre for Urban & Environmental Studies, All in Mumbai in Environment and Development Srinagar:Govt. of India. India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai. Economics. whether this results in more responsive Govt. of India (2001). National Population census, Gupta, Devendra. (1985). Slums and Squatter Prab hu A. (2006). Solid Waste Management in and accountable servicing is not very 2001: Govt. of India. Settlements in India in Urban Housing In India; Mumbai – A joint venture of MCGM and NGOs; Berner E. (1997). The Metropolitan Dilemma in P. World Bank staff Working Papers, No. 730, W.B., Unpublished note. clear. Discussion indicates that these new Weyland (Ed.), Space, Culture and Power, London: Washington D.C. Sridharan N. (2005). Institutional Contestations contractors may not be free of problems. Zed Books. Ghosh A., Ahmed & S. Maitra S. (1995). Basic and Urban governance in Seminar on New Forms BCPT (2004). Solid Waste Management in Mumbai, Services For Urban Poor; Urban Studies Series of Governance In Indian Megacities, Centre for c. A trend towards instituting payment for Bombay Communities Public Trust, Mumbai. no. 3; Institute of Social Sciences & Concept Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru services is increasingly seen in all the Publications New Delhi. University, New Delhi. January 2005.