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.
