Survey of Mumbai's slums?

For most of in Mumbai, the census is over, the counting is done. But not so for the slum dwellers. Home to one of the largest slums in the world, the state Govt is carrying out the world’s biggest exercise of trying to ascertain the number of people living in slums.

Why this survey? The Govt wants the exact number of people living in the slum who will be eligible for new flats under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). The numbers which the Govt currently has – 65 lakh people living in slums which is shockingly 55% of Mumbai’s total population. This means only 45% of us live in flats and yet real estate prices are the highest in India.

The surveyors are having a tough time, getting this data from many dingy, sewage clogged, dark slums where many are resisting moving to SRA apartments which they feel is smaller and more claustrophobic than their slums. Till date, they have identified some 71,512 hutments and there they have completed biometric survey of people living in over 45,000 shanties.