Study Report Study Report MAPPING OF INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN Muzaffarpur, Bihar Participatory Research in Asia Content Content Page A General Profile of Muzaffarpur City 2 A General Poverty Profile of Muzaffarpur City 3 Methodology for Listing of Informal Settlements 5 Status of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 5 Challenges and Lessons Learned 12 Annexures Annex.1: Format for Listing of Informal Settlements 14 Annex. 2: List of informal Settlements 16 List of Charts and Figures Chart 1: Decadal Population Growth of Muzaffarpur City 2 Chart 2: Status of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 6 Chart 3: Ownership of Informal Settlement Lands in Muzaffarpur 6 Chart 4: Surrounding Areas of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 7 Chart 5: Type of Physical Location of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 7 Chart 6: Locational Characteristics of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 8 Chart 7: Type of Structures for Majority of Houses in Informal Settlements of Muzaffarpur 8 Chart 8: Approach Road to the Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 9 Chart 9: Type of Internal Roads in the Informal Settlements of Muzaffarpur 9 Chart 10: Distance from Nearest Motorable Road for Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur 10 Chart 11: Presence of Public Institutions in the Informal Settlements of Muzaffarpur 11 Chart 12: Presence of CBOs in the Informal Settlements of Muzaffarpur 11 Chart 13: Presence of NGO Projects in the Informal Settlements of Muzaffarpur 12 Figure 1: Map of Muzaffarpur City Showing All the Wards 3 Figure 2: Map of Muzaffarpur City Showing the Locations of Informal Settlements 4 1 Study Report A General Profile of Muzaffarpur City Muzaffarpur, “the Land of Leechi” was created in 1860s for administrative convenience by splitting up the erstwhile district of Tirhut. The present town of Muzaffarpur came into existence in the 18th century and was named after Muzaffar Khan, an Amil (Revenue Officer) under British Dynasty. Muzaffarpur is the administrative headquarter of Muzaffarpur District. The total area under the jurisdiction of Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation (MMC) is about 26.68 Km2 (2668.44 Ha). According to 2011 Census, the city has a population of 351,607 with 65,870 households. The city is divided into 49 wards. Muzaffarpur lies between the Burhi Gandak River and Furdoo Nallah. The municipal area has been further divided into eight administrative and sanitation circles. Muzaffarpur has several industries. Prabhat Zarda Factory, Bharat Wagon and Engineering Ltd., Bihar Drugs and Organic Chemicals Ltd., Muzaffarpur – a unit of IDPL, units of Leather Development Corporation, Muzaffarpur Dairy, a unit of the Bihar State Dairy Corporation, thermal power plant (at present defunct) are the major industries located in Muzaffarpur and its periphery. The above industries have generated considerable employment and have also been helpful in establishing a number of small industries including a few cottage industries. The most important item that is manufactured in Muzaffarpur town is railway wagon. Muzaffarpur town is an important centre for the wholesale cloth trade. Agro-based Industries are also established in the town. Muzaffarpur has few potential tourist sites like the Baba Garibnath Temple, Chaturbhujsthan Temple, Gola Durga Temple, Bangla Mukhi Temple, Pankha Toli Temple, Bishops’ House Church and European Church apart from litchi plantation/ orchards.1 Chart 1: Decadal Population Growth of Muzaffarpur City 4,00,000 3,54,462 3,50,000 3,05,525 3,00,000 2,41,107 2,50,000 2,00,000 1,50,000 1,00,000 50,000 0 1991 2001 2011 The city has experienced rapid population growth in the last four decades - from 54,139 in 1951 to 305,525 in 2001 and 351,607 in 2011. The average decadal growth rate has been 28%. There was 56% upsurge in the town’s population growth in 1971-81, thereafter, the growth has stabilised. According to 2011 census, the average population density is 131. 1 Source: CDP Muzaffarpur (2010-30) 2 Participatory Research in Asia In 2001 civic election, the number of wards increased from 22 to 36 in Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation. It was further increased to 49 wards as of today. After 2011 election there were 23 male councillors and 26 female councillors. Figure 1: Map of Muzaffarpur City Showing All the Wards Source: CDP, Muzaffarpur A General Poverty Profile of Muzaffarpur City The Bihar state slum Policy 2011, defines a slum is “a compact area of at least 20 'slum like households' of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment u s u a l l y with i n a d e q u a t e infrastructure and l a c k i n g p r o p e r sanitation and drinking water facilities”. The essential characteristic of the slums and slum like inhabitation as laid out in the state slum policy are as: High overall household density and predominantly small plot/house; high occupancy rate, single-room houses, cohabitation by two or more families. Inadequate availability of settlement level infrastructure - street lighting, storm water drainage, garbage collection and predominance of narrow and kutcha streets and inadequate access to education and basic health care facilities. 3 Study Report The informal settlements are scattered across all 49 wards of the city. However, in Ward No. 17, 34 and 38 the concentration of informal settlements is higher. These are also the old habitations and primarily inhabited by migrant labour communities. Figure 2: Map of Muzaffarpur City Showing the Locations of Informal Settlements Source: CDP Muzaffarpur The informal settlements in Muzaffarpur exhibit characteristics such as lack of provision of minimum basic infrastructure, viz. sanitation facility, drainage system, solid waste management, etc. Most informal settlements are dependent on hand pumps for water supply and a large majority practice of open defecation. Absence of drainage system and solid waste management results in unhealthy and unhygienic living conditions. The urban poor in Muzaffarpur mainly work as labourers and in other informal trades such as vending vegetables and fruits, as cycle-rickshaw pullers, etc. According to 2011 census there were 105 informal settlements with a population of 31,607 with 5,292 households in the city whereas the survey conducted by SPUR Programme of state government in 2011, identified 137 informal settlement having a total of 77,456 population and 7,035 BPL families. However officially MMC has notified 105 slums as per the definition and characteristics laid out in the State Slum Policy 2011 (Annex.2). The access to basic services such as health, education, water and sanitation in Muzaffarpur city to the urban poor residing in these informal settlements is limited. 4 Participatory Research in Asia Methodology for Listing of Informal Settlements The process of mapping informal settlements started with gathering secondary data from different sources and studying the data for better understanding of the city. The secondary data included list of notified slums (from Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation), 2011 Census Reports, City Development Plan of Muzaffarpur and other reports prepared under JNNURM. It also involved a number of interactions with various stakeholders in the city. The stakeholders included Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation officials and councillors, ex-councillors, and community leaders. PRIA team also interacted with media representatives working on smart city and sanitation issues and different NGOs working in the city. These stakeholder interactions and analysis of secondary data have helped PRIA team in understanding the city and identifying and locating the locations of informal settlements in the city. Right in the beginning, the elected councillor of a particular ward was informed about the purpose of listing and mapping of informal settlements. The PRIA team members visited and interacted with the ex-councillors as well as other contestants in the last civic election for seeking information about the informal settlements and about the active citizens in the informal settlements. The Anganwadi Centre in an informal settlement is engaged in a lot of activities. The team consulted the Anganwadi workers which proved to be helpful in identifying the development issues in informal settlement and the active women groups and youth in the community. A good relationship with Anganwadi workers also enabled the team to interact candidly with the community. The existing community based organisations / associations, youth groups and religious groups were identified and approached. Some of the community meeting places like shops, tea stalls, gardens and community centres were also visited. These were the places where the community people engaged in informal discussions which proved to be good sources of information. A visit to these places gave a good idea about the community people and happenings in the community. The team also facilitated a set of Participatory Urban Appraisal tools such as Transect Walk through informal settlements, conducting Focus Group Discussions, Informal Interviews, Social and Resource Mapping. During these interactions, the information was collected and verified from the informal settlement residents. The relevant information about each informal settlement was collected in a format which is presented in Annex.1. Status of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur Status of informal settlements The mapping process identified a total of 105 informal settlements. Out of 105 informal settlements 97% were notified and 3% were non-notified informal settlements. The non-notified informal settlements were located in Ward No. 10 (IB Mohalla), Ward No. 39 (Bhavani Singh Market) and Ward No. 30 (Aghoriya Bazar Chauk). 5 Study Report Chart 2: Status of Informal Settlements in Muzaffarpur Non-notified, 3% Notified, 97% Ownership of informal settlement lands Sixty eight percent (71) informal settlements were located on private land, 12 percent (13) were located on municipal lands, 12 percent (13) were located on the lands belonged to the state government, 4 percent (4) were located on lands belonged to railways. Four percent informal settlements were located on other categories of lands belonged to institutions such as Wakf Boards and others.