Open Spaces

Slums in Urban Areas

In 1970 Dhaka was the provincial capital of former East Pakistan. As it was a river rein country, the poor, unemployed villagers especially those who were landless due to the river erosion came to the province capital Dhaka for the hope of shelter and employment. In 1970 there were 730 slums in Dhaka city. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the rate of migration to Dhaka increased significantly. In eighties, the number of slums of Dhaka city became 1068. In the decade of 1990, it increased more and more and rose to 2147.  According to a survey of 1996 there are 3007 nos of small to large slums in Dhaka.  Rapid urbanisation, which is the consequence of increasing migrant population driven by natural calamity and rural poverty, has coupled here with rapid a rapid growth in slums and increases in income inequality and poverty. The excessive burden of the city population has posed formidable difficulties for the urban public health, water and sanitation systems to provide normal services to the city dwellers in general and the slum dwellers in particular.

General Scenario : Dhaka

 In 1996 the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) conducted a survey on the slum population of Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA). According to that survey, the total slum population in DMA was estimated at 1.1 million. The same survey found the number of slum clusters with 10 or more households each to be 3,007. The survey in 1996 estimated the population of Dhaka Metropolitan Area at 5.58 million with 19.8 per cent living in the slums and squatter settlements.

But Prof. Nazrul Islam, chairman of CUS, himself has some reservations about the data. According to him, since the slum population comprises 52% of the total population of Mumbai and 40% of that of Kolkata, being the biggest urban center of a poorer country, the DMA is stipulated to have a bigger share of population in slums. He says that a full census of the slum population of the DMA will reveal the actual data which is yet to be done. Relevantly, the survey of CUS is based not on headcount but largely on systematic estimation. Most of the slums are located on private land while one-fourth of them are on government and semi-government land. The lands of latter category are owned by the departments of railways, roads and highways and city authorities like Dhaka City Corporation and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), etc. The slums on private land are increasing in number because of rapid decline in the availability of public land.

According to the CUS survey of 1996, of the 3,007 slums and squatter settlements, 2;328 are on privately owned land and the rest 679 are squatter settlements located on the government land. The total of households in the slums and squatters in the DMA are 220,920 households. The density of population was 263,173 persons per square km or 1,065 persons per acre. The total area or land covered by slums and squatter settlements in Dhaka city was roughly estimated at 1,038 acres or about 4.2 sq-km and on an average a slum cluster occupied 345 acre. However, according to the 1991 survey of CUS, the number of slums and squatters in DMA was 2,156 occupying an area of about 3.2 sq km.

The major slums of Dhaka city are located in areas like Islambagh, Shahidnagar, Maurertek, Rahmatgonj, Kamrangirchar, Hajaribagh, Rayerbazar, Mohammadpur, Zigatola, Agargaon, Mirpur, Pallabi, Badda, Karwanbazar, Tejgaon, Mohakhali, Mirertek, Nayatola, Rampura, Ulan, Khilgaon, Shahjahanpur, Meradia, Goran, Mothertek, Mugdapara, Maniknagar, Rupgonj, Golapbag, Gendaria, Sutrapur, Sayedabad, Faridabad, Shantibag, Gulbag, Babupura, Bangshal, Ganaktuli, Gopibag, Narinda and Lalbag.

Dhaka Metropolitan Area: Location of Slums & Squatters, 1996

Dhaka Metropolitan Area: Proportion of Slums & Squatters Population by Thana, 1996

Slum Issues

a. Rural to urban migration is a normal phenomenon. Migration to large urban centres is inevitable, because of the scope of employment, income and other facilities in such centres.

b.  Projections indicate that more than fifty percent of Bangladesh population will be living in urban areas by the year 2025. Which means food habits, needs of habitat and societal shapes are going to change. The rapid urbanisation process in Bangladesh is generating huge challenges and both government and civil society agents have to develop strategies to cope with these challenges.

c. Slum, informal settlement, problems should be understood as the physical manifestation of poverty situation in Bangladesh. Informal, poor settlements with inadequate basic services are also an indicator of the state of governance in our country.

d. It is well documented that the average income of the urban poor living in Dhaka slums is three times higher than that of the rural poor.

Life in Slums

Those who end up living in slums which are located in or close to the municipality areas, have little access to the city utility services like electricity, gas and drinking water. A myth generally persists that disadvantaged people will not be able and willing to pay for basic water and sanitation site and service projects. On the contrary, people living in slums are paying higher rates than middle income or rich communities for water and other services and these facts are well documented. Most of the privately owned slums have electricity supply and the dwellers who can pay get it. However, some of the slum dwellers [and well to do] have illegal electricity lines plugged into their residences.

The major sources of drinking water, both in public and private slums are municipal taps and tubewells. In case of bathing a considerable portion of slum dwellers use rivers, ponds, wells, lakes and ditches. Slum dwellers collect water from municipal taps located either along the public streets or in public places while private slums often get their water from the landlords' house. Besides tap water, tubewells within the slum or neighboring areas also play an important role in supplying drinking water to slum dwellers. Slum dwellers are most exposed to the water borne diseases and heavy metals found in water in the city.

In addition to problems coupled with unsafe water, some other basic problems in the slums are: in most slums drainage is almost universally absent; garbage, thrown around, are not collected in most instances; toilet facilities are absolutely inadequate and sewer connections to latrines are non-existent.

Because of poor environmental condition and malnutrition the slum dwellers suffer from different skin diseases, RTI problems, diarrhea, etc. Women suffering from menstrual irregularities, anemia, gastritis and skin diseases are found in great many numbers. Children are also susceptible to most of these common diseases. The slum dwellers have little access to health services enjoyed by the middle class.

Dwellers of the privately owned slums pay rent to the owner of the land. The local gangs (mastans) and middlemen illegally tax those who are living on the government/ semi-government land.