Over 55% of Bombay residents live in slums. In a city with the
population of Australia that is a considerable number. Foreigners tend
to be horrified by the slums and the squalor. To find out for myself I
took a tour to Dharvai the largest slum in Asia.
It is very difficult to tell Dharvai apart from most Indian towns. The
open sewers, garbage, ramshackle buildings look all the same. In fact
the only thing that is different is that inhabitants didn't buy the
land but took it. Any land occupied before 2000 now legally belongs to
the inhabitants.
This roughly one km square area is home to well over 1million people.
Not one asked me for money and nothing disappeared out of my pocket.
In this slum I was able to go to a clean grocery store, I saw a
Mercedes parked on the road side, visited a school and a variety of
small factories. In fact this slum brings in 650 million US$ into the
economy annually through the plastic recycling, baking, soap making,
garment sewing and a host of other businesses. A very impressive use
of space.
Slum dwellers have the option of converting there home into a massive
apartment tower. If 70% in an area agree developers come in and build
a tower providing a free flat to the original slum dweller and selling
the rest for profit. Interestingly only one building has ever been
built. Almost no one is interested.
A slum, at least this one is not what I expected. It is easy to see
the appeal to country dwellers. Slum dwellers make three times what
the average farmer does and has access to far more amenities and
opportunities in the city.
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