Slum Life in Mumbai

Male: Early morning in South Mumbai and Sagira who came to the city
32 years ago is already at work making quilts. Her sons wash
carpets, her nephew works in a clothing factory, her niece is a
domestic servant. This hut on the pavement is her home. It’s less
than 50 square feet. Sixteen members of her family live in this
space.

Sagira: People come to Bombay only they have problems in their village.
When I came here, there were no huts on the pavements. Everyone
had their beddings spread around and they live on the streets.
That’s what I did too.

Male: Migration and slums are not new to Mumbai. When India gained
independence in 1947, only 5% of Mumbai’s population lived in
the slums. Today, it’s 60%. They settle where they could on land
owned by the government, Mumbai municipality, the railways and
on private land.

The authority responsible for Mumbai’s slums is the Maharashtra
state housing authority. Their attempts to get rid of the slums have
failed and the infrastructure is almost a breaking point.

But one of Bollywood’s biggest stars who's been involved with the
slums for years says the city simply would not function without the
slum dwellers.

Shabana Azmi: Now we’re talking about 60% of the population that provide all the
services in the city. From the boy who brings in your milkman to
your newspaper vendor to the maid who works in your house, to
the driver who takes you to work, to the people who work in your
factories, to the clerk in the bank to the municipal cooperation,
schools, colleges, these people live in the slums. They are the
working people of Mumbai. If they said “Halt,” Mumbai would
come to grinding halt.

Male: Sagira’s stretch of pavement has almost no amenities. Her water
comes from an illegal connection. She has no electricity and it
costs her two cents to use the municipal toilets.

Mumbai’s effort is to provide more than a million homes has made
the city an important experiment and slum rehabilitation and
upgrading. But it could take years to solve. In the meantime, the
key issue is still to establish basic rights.

Sheela Patel: The issue of land tenure is very important because it represents the
security of having an address. Unless there is some understanding
of secure tenure, municipalities they make any investment in terms
of providing water, sanitation, drainage and sewage.

Anna Tibaijuka: The security of tenure is so central because you see security is a
basis for everything else. When people feel insecure definitely it
becomes a very difficult to have a productive or peaceful person
who does not know what tomorrow will bring. It brings
uncertainty, irritation and as I said therefore, social tension and
conflicts.

Male: Just half an hour train ride from Sagira’s home is Gondhavali. The
residents here have water and electricity, but share communal
toilets. This is where Mahadev, a newly qualified lawyer lives with
his family.

Mahadev: When I moved into this hut, it was a single room made of wood. It
was not exactly livable but I slowly work on it and made it to what
it is today. When I started living here, I decided to develop my
career further. I thought, if people from states like UP who are
uneducated end up studying and become lawyers. Why not me? So
I decided to study further.

P K: Slum is not some object. Slum is a make up of people and Bombay
slums has people of whole variety. I know of for examples of
professionals into the architect who live in slums. There are
engineers who live in slums. There are police who live in slums.
There are municipal officials who live in slums. So it’s not a single
sort of anonymous hole and that must be clarified.