CB Bureau‘About 300 million people live in towns and cities underserved by utilities, with inadequate housing and increasingly choking traffic. The condition of the urban poor is by many measures worse than the poor in rural areas, towards which special attention has been given during various five year plans,’ Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja, who also holds the tourism portfolio, told IANS in an interview.
The minister stressed that a major thrust was necessary in physical, financial and human infrastructure in cities and in governance, and in technical capabilities to promote holistic and inclusive growth of urban areas.
“The states have “only now” begun to appreciate the consequences of the inexorable growth of urban population on the economy, human development indicators and the social fabric as also its political ramifications,” she added.
Asked if the government would be able to realize the target of making India free of slums in five years as mentioned in a speech of President Pratibha Patil in 2009, the minister admitted that the ‘goal is aspirational’.
‘The significance of the president’s announcement lies in the importance the government is placing on the issues of inclusion and improving the lot of urban slum dwellers,’ she said.
Commenting on the Pranob Sen report that projected the slum population at over 93 million (7.75 per cent of country’s population) by 2011, she explained that a cluster of 60 or more houses was earlier categorized as a slum, but the report had recommended that a cluster of 20-25 houses without basic amenities should be treated in the same category.