India's urban poor need 40 mn houses, 500 health centres: ASSOCHAM report

In a paper 'Housing and Health Facilities for Urban Poor', the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India estimates that a meagre investment of Rs 7 billion is required to provide basic living and health facilities to poor urban-dwellers Over 40 million low-cost dwellings and 500 additional urban health and family welfare centres need to be built to provide basic housing and health facilities to India's approximately 190 million urban poor. Meanwhile, a significant number of urban Indians are spending between Rs 30-Rs 40 lakh per dwelling. These are the findings of a recent document by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). In its paper 'Housing and Health Facilities for Urban Poor', ASSOCHAM estimates that a meagre investment of Rs 7 billion is required to provide basic living and health facilities to poor urban-dwellers, for which budgetary allocations for the fiscal year 200809 could be made if there is strong political will. The basis for investment has been calculated, excluding land cost, on the premise that each low-cost housing unit for the urban poor could be provided at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh. The land for such units must be provided by state governments at virtually 100% subsidy, or for free, adds the ASSOCHAM estimate. Commenting on the paper, ASSOCHAM President Venugopal N Dhoot recommended that all states should emulate the Delhi government's recent initiative to provide lowcost housing to nearly 4 lakh slum-dwellers in and around the national capital. Dhoot suggested that states such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, in particular, should come up with such schemes as they are host to migrant workers from all over the country who gradually settle in places that offer them steady employment. According to ASSOCHAM, the population of urban-dwellers will exceed 225 million urban poor by 2015, from the current figure of 190 million. States in which the urban
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poor population will grow manifold include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as these states have been recording a 30% growth in urban poor populations in recent years. Currently, 40%-45% of India's urban poor live in slums or squatter settlements. The rest live under bridges and flyovers, pavements, or in overcrowded tenements. The ASSOCHAM analysis finds that most states have yet to start housing initiatives for their urban poor, most of whom face severe shortages of power and water. Over 39% buy water from small private players. There are too few family welfare centres and those that are in place are ill-equipped to provide treatment as they have neither doctors nor nurses and other support staff. Dhoot pointed out that in 2007, urban India had around 1,150 family welfare centres which attended to 250,000 urban-dwellers, against the norm of serving 70,000 patients only. These centres require a qualified medical and nursing staff of over 30,000 to effectively serve and treat the urban poor population. Some of the other findings are that over 80,000 babies from poor urban families die during the first month of their lives; half of India's urban poor children are underweight; one out of every 10 children born annually does not live to see its sixth birthday; and 30% of poor urban children suffer from diarrhoea, malaria or other diseases. On the creation of an additional 500 urban health and family welfare centres to cater to the health and family requirements of the urban poor, a minimum of Rs 500 crore is needed. This should come from the Union budget for the year 2008-09, said Dhoot. The government allocated over Rs 8,000 lakh in 2006-07 for the urban family welfare centres, which proved totally inadequate in view of the increasing urban slum population. This should be enhanced to a suggested ceiling of Rs 500 crore in the 2008-09 budget, says the ASSOCHAM paper. Dhoot suggested that Indian real estate and pharma giants could play a pivotal role in providing access to housing and healthcare facilities to the urban poor. Companies could offer one or two rooms for homes, at affordable rents like Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 a month. Likewise, pharma companies could supply medicines and other essential items at concessional rates to urban healthcare centres. Source: www.indiainfoline.com, January 3, 2008

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