SLUM IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES FOR TAJGANJ, AGRA CITY

Abstract

India is urbanizing day by day. It is one of the fastest developing countries with many metropolitan cities (e.g. Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai). During last two decades; migration from villages and small towns to metropolitan areas has increased tremendously in India. Population is migrating from rural to urban areas in search of higher education, employment, livelihood, urban facilities, or "in search of a better life." A major part of this migrated population is either illiterate or very less educated. This population usually works as laborer in an urban area thus lies in economically weaker section or BPL (Below Poverty Line). These people occupy a piece of land in the city core and settle over there without any infrastructure and facilities to live. Such settlement also creates an overload on existing infrastructure as it was not planned to be there. These unplanned settlements/colonies are commonly known as slums. This leads to the degradation of urban environmental quality and sustainable development especially in the metropolitan cities. Considering today's poor urban environmental quality in India, the majority of families affected by urban development projects are located in slum areas which are under consideration for resettlement and/ or rehabilitation. Living conditions in a slum is bad in almost all the aspects: health, security, environment, living standard, etc. Improper Water supply and lack of sanitation facilities is one of the major problems in slums which create an unhealthy environment cause a lot of problems such as plague, asthma, typhoid etc. Unhygienic living conditions lead to overall degradation of the community.