Slums in Mumbai have always existed. Even back in the time when the fort was developed, the native villages have always been close to slums. They never underwent any planning, infrastructure construction or implementation of facilities such as water, sewage and drainage. This has led to many problems with Mumbai's poor population.
Slums have risen dramatically since 1950. Most of this is due to the
fact that Mumbai's tripled since India's independence in 1947. The island
of Bombay is only 12 miles long, and Greater Mumbai, including Salsette
Island, occupies an area of 240 square miles and it has a density of 16500
people per square mile, extremely dense.
Add all of these elements to the fact that housing in Mumbai is scarce and expensive. In 1976, the Government passed the Urban Land Act which was supposed to enlarge the area on which middle and lower class housing was to be built, however the act has been used, once again in the elitist fashion, to build more upper class housing and to keep hold of wealthy neighborhoods which has only worsened the slum problem.
Before 1950 slums were predominantly found around the mills, on the western part of the island, predominantly in an area called Byculla. They were mostly industrial workers in one room tenements. Health and provisions to these areas were issues that were ignored by the head policy makers. Instead of going away, the slums have just spread. From 1950 to1968 the amount of slums increased 18%, in the 1970s they had a huge surge and by 1980 slum dwellers were half of the entire city's population. All this despite the fact that the city underwent slum clearance, implemented by the Municiple Corporation in 1954.
Today slum dwellers make up 60% of Mumbai's population, that is approximately 7 million people. The eventually spread into the areas neighboring Byculla, such as: Mahim Creek, Parel, Dadar and Matunga and whereever else they can find space, even in roads. The conditions in the slums are terrible. Slum inhabitants constantly have to deal with issues such as, constant migration, lack of water, no sewage or solid waste facilities, lack of public transit, pollution and housing shortages. Infant mortality is as high as it is in rural India where there are no amenities. General Hospitals in the Greater Mumbai region are overcrowded and underresourced. In fact, most people rely on private doctors, many of which do not have any qualifications or official training. The World Bank has funded development of 176 Primary Care Dispensaries, but they are finding that those efforts are underused and the water supplies to the area are problematic. It seems that the water supply is always to much or too little, for when monsoon season hits some slums are submerged knee deep in water.
In 1985, the government tried to rectify the problem by passing the Slum Upgradation Project. It offered secure long-term legal plot tenure to slum households on the basis that they would invest in their housing. By giving people an interest in their housing and by guaranteeing home ownership, they hoped to oblitterate slums. Unfortunately the program targeted only 10-12% of the slum population, those who were capable of upgrading their homes. It disregarded those who did not have homes at all.
Despite all the attempts to remedy the slum problem of Mumbai, slums are still growing. The slum growth rate is actually greater than the general urban growth rate. In fact, the city is gaining the name "Slumbay."
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