Patna Dreams:- A slum free Patna.

Slums in Patna

A story of every Patnaite…. Dreams are seen in Patna. This dream brings people from all places in Bihar to Patna and also drives many out of Patna. Slums provide them an inexpensive shelter and are found in Patna all around. They constitute close to half of the city’s population and this population is only to grow tremendously in the future. While imagining a slum free Patna; it cannot be achieved with only policy in mind but needs lot of inclusive and interactive support of all stakeholders as well.

Patna cannot become slum free unless the issues of Patna’s poor are connected with other issues of the city, Patna. Making Patna slum free is the biggest challenge which can only be achieved by ‘Breaking the rules’. Just like how a Primary Municipality school is considered a school of urban poor which lacks basic education quality and amenities. This issue can only be addressed if Municipality schools are brought in the same quality and equity as public and private schools in Patna. Poor in Patna should also have access to private and public schools. The following points come to mind when thinking slums of Patna from holistic view:

Urban Development

When we talk of urban development it is primarily about real estate in Patna, malls in Patna, hotels in Patna, roads, flyovers, houses for elite and middle class etc. Urban development has become elitist. How about the urban poor? All the urban development authorities exclude the urban poor from their city planning exercises. Only certain city agencies have to deal with urban poor and not other authorities. More importantly; there is no harmony and coordination between all parties involved in planning the city, Patna.

Community engagement

‘Islands of wealth cannot survive in a sea of poverty’. This is exactly what is happening in Patna today. There are in Patna three kinds of communities. The elite, the urban poor and the urban educated. Unless and until these three communities come together there can never be slum free Patna. Participation among these communities is the very crux of community development.

Green slums

Slums in Patna have become inaccessible for basic services to reach like, sewerage, water connection etc. Here comes the need for innovation. Various green concepts of water harvesting system, green energy use for generating electricity, innovation in public toilets have to be applied. Shared community resources should be encouraged. Patna can learn Innovation at its best for example from Shirdi Sulabh Shauchalay which is the world’s biggest toilet cum bath complex. At one point of time it has148 toilets, 108 bathing and rows of urinals. It serves 30,000 users per day.

Another important thing is the check on Environmental Quality. Slums in Patna are the most vulnerable to environment degradation. While setting industries one does not bother about existence of slums in nearby areas making the slum dwellers vulnerable to environmental hazards. The same liberty cannot be taken near a residential colony in Patna to that extent.

Responsibility to community

Complete responsibility of slum planning and basic urban services in Patna has to be given to communities. The decentralization of urban services should be linked to community. This can only be done through ways like community contracting rather than involving other government agencies for it. This will enable empowering the urban slum dwellers in Patna as well.

Conclusion

When in many slum dwellers have land tenure rights then why are they still living in poor condition. Can we think about a model where private entities are also participating in this initiative? This will speed up housing development in Patna. For any work, resources always fall short looking at our large population and large poverty in Patna. The government has limited resources to cater to needs of large and ever growing population of Patna.

Lastly, Patna will always be a magnet to attract people from rural areas looking for livelihood. Thus the question still awaits its answer on where will these growing migrants stay? Until we find an answer, slums are here only to stay and a slum free Patna is a dream that we chase at www.buysellrentpatna.in.