Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CITY RÉSUMÉ
AHMEDABAD
The authors are solely responsible for the views expressed in this
work and the accuracy of its findings.
The work does not necessarily represent the views of or confer liability on the
Centre for Urban Equity.
© Centre for Urban Equity (CUE).
Contact:
Centre for Urban Equity (CUE)
CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India
Email: cue@cept.ac.in
Website: www.cept.ac.in/cue
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CITY RÉSUMÉ
AHMEDABAD
ABSTRACT
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CITY RÉSUMÉ
AHMEDABAD
CONTENTS
Abstract 3
PART 1
Ahmedabad: A Contextual Introduction 5
Historical Trajectories
Demography and Administration
PART 2
Globalisation, Changing Economy, and the Labour Market 7
Labour Informalisation 7
Overview of Migration 9
PART 3
Planning, Policies, and the Poor 10
PART 4
Civil Society Organisations 12
PART 5
Social Inclusion and Exclusion 14
Typologies of Informal Housing and Programmes for their Improvement 14
Resettled Slums 17
Spatial Segmentation 18
PART 6
Future Development 20
PART 7
Conclusion 21
References 22
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 1 - AHMEDABAD: A CONTEXTUAL INTRODUCTION
PART 1
AHMEDABAD: A CONTEXTUAL INTRODUCTION
Ahmedabad, the seventh-largest metropolis in India After Independence, the city was the district head-
and the largest city of Gujarat state, has undergone quarters of the Bombay province for a few years.
various transformations over time, in terms of its In 1960, when a separate Gujarat state was created,
economy, labour markets, and urban planning Ahmedabad regained its status as the provincial cap-
paradigm. This résumé highlights how the course ital after almost 200 years (Ibid.). In that decade, the
of development has impacted its citizens, especially city, progressive as it was, invited the establishment
those residing in informal settlements. of premier academic institutions such as the Indian
Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Centre for
Historical Trajectories Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT)
Ahmedabad is named after Ahmed Shah, the second University, and National Institute of Design. In a
sultan of Gujarat, who founded the city in 1411, on way, these institutions gave the city international
the banks of the Sabarmati River. It became the acclaim. Today, in the 21st century, Ahmedabad is
new capital of the Gujarat sultanate and continued essentially evolving into a heritage Smart City.
to be a seat of power thereafter as the provincial
headquarters of the Mughals till mid-18th century. Demography and Administration
During this period, the city witnessed the rise of As of 2011, Ahmedabad had a population of 5.8
superb architecture—mosques such as the central million in the municipal area and 6.3 million (Table
Jama Masjid and Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, Bhadra Fort, 1) in the urban agglomeration area. The municipal
gates of the walled city, mausoleums, and more. area comes under the jurisdiction of the Ahmedabad
With many of these standing strong till today, Municipal Corporation (AMC), the administrative
Ahmedabad has become the first and only Indian boundaries of which were last extended in 2010,
city to earn the UNESCO World Heritage City to cover an area of 466 sq. kms.3 The Ahmedabad
status1. Urban Agglomeration (AUA)4 includes 4 towns and
103 villages, apart from the area under AMC, and
For nearly 60 years, after the Mughal reign, the city covers a total area of 1,866 sq. kms. A third entity
was governed by the Marathas, before being surren- in the city’s governance structure is the Ahmedabad
dered to the British in early 19th century. During Urban Development Authority (AUDA), a planning
the British rule, Ahmedabad grew in prominence authority that largely covers the AUA area and more
due to its railway linkages with Bombay2. Moreover, (AUDA 2013).
a thriving textile industry led to Ahmedabad
becoming known as the ‘Manchester of India’.
With Gandhi’s arrival in 1915, the city, by then 500
years old, became the centre of the Indian Freedom
Movement, against British imperialism (Yagnik &
Seth 2011).
3 The city limits are extended from time to time, once the peripheral areas
develop (generally on their own). The previous extension of AMC limits
1 Accessed from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ahmedabad-be- took place in 1986.
comes-indias-first-world-heritage-city-unesco-site-indians-first-4742234/ 4 The AUA area, which is larger than the AMC area, is not an administra-
on 22nd July 2017. tive unit and is defined by the Office of the Registrar General & Census
2 Now known as Mumbai. Commissioner, India.
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 1 - AHMEDABAD: A CONTEXTUAL INTRODUCTION
Table 1
Population and growth rate of areas under the AMC and AUA
The peripheral areas of the city have registered a According to the disaggregation of the population
higher population growth rate than the central parts. in Ahmedabad district (which includes the city and
Hence, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) her neighbouring areas) by religion, 83.8 per cent is
of the AUA area has been higher than that of the AMC Hindu, 12.2 per cent is Muslim, 2.9 per cent is Jain,
area, except in the years when the latter’s boundaries and 0.7 per cent is Christian.5 While Muslims made up
had been extended (Table 1). Although Ahmedabad 9.7 per cent of the state’s population, their proportion
does not hold the record for registering the fastest in Ahmedabad was higher at 13.5 per cent as well as
population growth within Gujarat—that position has in Ahmedabad district, as mentioned above. In 2011,
been occupied by Surat for many years now. However, people registered as Scheduled Caste (SC) constituted
the AUA’s population growth rate has been higher 10.68 per cent of the city’s population (declined from
than that of Gujarat since the 1990s (Table 1), which 10.94 per cent in 2001), while those categorised as
also indicates a higher population growth on the city’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) made up 1.21 per cent of the city’s
periphery than in the AMC areas. population (increased from 0.94 per cent in 2001).6 ◆
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 2 - GLOBALISATION, ECONOMY, AND THE LABOUR MARKET
PART 2
GLOBALISATION, ECONOMY,
ANDTHE LA BOUR MARKET
Gujarat is one of the fastest growing economies Gujarat, with an urbanisation rate of 3.1 per cent
of the country and its growth has predominantly per annum, is the only high-income state, besides
been driven by private players, who have been Haryana (3.7 per cent per annum), to have surpassed
handed a significant role (albeit varyingly) in key the all-India urbanisation rate (Table 2) in the decade
infrastructure sectors such as ports, power, and 2001–2011. Till 1991, Gujarat witnessed a slower rate
roads, since 2000. of urbanisation, as compared to that of India—its
rate being 3.5 per cent per annum in the 1970s and
The state had an average economic growth rate of 10 2.9 per cent per annum in 1980s, as compared to 3.8
per cent per annum from 2004–2005 to 2012–2013, per cent per annum and 3.1 per cent per annum for
which is higher than the national average of 8 per India for the respective periods (Mahadevia 2014a).
cent per annum for this period (Table 2). During However, while the economic liberalisation of 1991
these years, even the primary, secondary, and ter- saw the urbanisation rate of India slowing down to
tiary sectors of Gujarat registered a higher growth 2.7 per cent per annum in the decade 1991–2001 and
rate than the national averages in the respective 2.8 per cent per annum in the decade 2001–2011,
sectors. In fact, the secondary and tertiary sectors Gujarat’s rate rose to 2.9 per cent per annum and 3.1
contributed to one-third and half of the Gross State per cent per annum during the respective periods. In
Domestic Product (GSDP) respectively during this other words, economic reforms had a positive impact
period (Mahadevia 2012). on Gujarat, in terms of urbanisation (Ibid.).
Labour Informalisation
Table 2 Ahmedabad has historically been a rich city, based
Real Gross Domestic Product growth rates (% per annum) on which its modern industrial economy has been
built. The city established itself as the home of cot-
Fiscal year India Gujarat
2004–05 7.5 8.9
ton textile mills in the later part of the 19th century.
2005–06 9.5 15.0 By early 20th century, Ahmedabad was known as
2006–07 9.6 8.4 the ‘Manchester of India’. Over the years, the city’s
2007–08 9.3 11.0 growing textile industry attracted working-class
2008–09 6.8 7.0 migrants from other regions of India. The 1970s
2009–10 8.6 11.3
marked the beginning of the first phase of the infor-
2010–11 8.9 10.0
malisation of labour in the city.
2011–12 6.7 7.7
2012–13 4.5 8.0
2004–05 to 2012–13 7.9 9.7 In 1981, out of an urban working population of
(Average)
7,50,000, around 2,50,000 were engaged in the for-
Source: Planning Commission, Government of India (2014a and 2014b) mal sector. But, this number decreased when mills
began to be closed down (Breman 2004)—the result
of the mills‘ obsolete technology, high production
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 2 - GLOBALISATION, ECONOMY, AND THE LABOUR MARKET
cost which is partly explained by the high wages In 2009–2010, only one per cent of the total male
paid to workers, and stiff competition from the workforce was in the primary sector and 28.5 per
unorganised power loom sector which managed to cent was in the secondary sector, while the remain-
keep production costs down by paying workers lower ing 70.5 per cent worked in the tertiary sector. From
wages. Moreover, around this time, waste from the the total female workforce, 5.8 per cent was in the
state’s upcoming petrochemical industries was used primary sector, 32 per cent in the secondary sector,
as synthetic fibre for textiles, which caused a decline and the remaining 62.2 per cent in the tertiary sector
in the demand for cotton textiles.7 The composite (Mahadevia 2012:20). It is estimated that there were
mills in Ahmedabad gave way to small-scale units a total of 21.05 million workers in Ahmedabad in
for specialised textile-related activities such as 2009–2010, out of which about 16.34 million (78 per
weaving and dyeing, thus bringing the workforce cent) worked in the informal or unorganised sector
under the informal sector. (Mahadevia & Shah 2012). Thus, although work
availability improved in Ahmedabad, it has largely
While the collapse of the composite cotton textile been in the informal sector. This means that any
mills had begun from 1985 onwards, it was the displacement of the informally employed workforce
central government’s New Economic Policy of India, from their original place of residence or any conflict
1991, that hastened their closure. Within a decade, or episodes of violence would disrupt their work
even the power loom sector in Ahmedabad declined availability, consequently pushing them below the
and a significant proportion of the retrenched poverty line.
textile mill workers resorted to casual wage labour
and self-employment in the informal sector such as Apart from the petrochemical industry, Ahmedabad
street vending, driving autorickshaws, repair work, has also seen the emergence of pharmaceutical,
and home-based work. automobile, agro and food processing, and chemi-
cal and dyeing units. Significant social and spatial
By 2005 (as per the economic census), 80 per cent transformations in peri-urban areas have come
of the enterprises located in Ahmedabad district about, as these factories are located in the region
were part of the tertiary sector and 46 per cent were around the city which is interspersed with villages.
into retail trade, marking a shift to tertiary sector The rise of such industries has led to an increase in
economy (Mahadevia 2012:16). Nearly 71 per cent land prices and large, speculative investments. A
of the total employment was in the tertiary sector high demand for labour has attracted migrants from
(Mahadevia 2012:16). Primarily, small enterprises states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal to
made up the tertiary sector then, indicating the these areas.
presence of a large informal sector, with the excep-
tions of public administration, defence, and social
services (Mahadevia 2012:16).
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 2 - GLOBALISATION, ECONOMY, AND THE LABOUR MARKET
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 3 - PLANNING, POLICIES, AND THE POOR
PART 3
PLANNING, POLICIES, AND THE POOR
Major planning interventions in Ahmedabad are ration of a TPS is supposed to take around four years.
currently being designed, planned, and imple- However, the actual time taken by TPS to move from
mented in two ways—through Town Planning one stage to the next is much longer, often more than
Schemes10 (TPS) and urban projects. The TPS are a decade (Sanyal & Deuskar 2012). This delay can be
part of a two-stage urban planning process. The attributed to the slow sanctioning process by the
first stage of planning constitutes the preparation state government, legal disputes involving the land,
of a Development Plan (DP) for a 20-year horizon. and inadequate financial resources.
In Ahmedabad, AUDA prepares the DP for the
region under its control. This DP includes delinea- The state as well as the local governments can use
tion of the planning area (i.e., the area over which their discretionary powers to decide on the usage
this authority has jurisdiction to prepare the DP of the allocated land, which, sometimes, do not
for), identification of potential growth areas in the work in favour of the low-income groups. These
planning area, and broad land use proposals with discretionary decision-making powers can also be
major trunk infrastructure. The planning area is led by arbitrariness and individual, vested interests.
then divided into a number of smaller areas, usually A welcome amendment to the legislation rules that
of 1–2 sq. km. each, for which TPS are prepared and the survey, planning, approval, and implementation
implemented by the AUDA and AMC within their process should be completed within three years, so
respective jurisdictions. The DP and the TPS are cre- that displacements and manipulation by builders
ated as per the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban are minimised.
Development Act, 1976 (GTPUDA, 1976).
As a result of the slow process, haphazard develop-
The designing and drafting of the TPS is a lengthy ment begins and spreads on the urban periphery
process and its implementation is slow at the ground before a draft TPS is prepared/sanctioned/imple-
level.11 All TPS go through three stages—draft, mented. In the absence of a TPS, an area is not
preliminary, and final—each of which needs to be generally entitled to receive basic infrastructure
approved by the state government, thus centralising and services such as water supply, sanitation, and
the decision-making process. Although consul- roads.12 This provision is implemented formally in
tations with landowners are held at all stages, the random parts of the urban periphery through MLA
government can take possession of the land for or councillor funds, or informally through private
the construction of roads soon after the draft is actors, usually made up of developers, housing
approved. According to the GTPUDA, 1976, prepa- associations, and/or musclemen/mafia. Since some
of these areas become densely developed before the
TPS is ready or implemented, the land mafia and
10 This mechanism is a planning tool, which allows for a detailed reconstitu-
developers who are in the know of the TPS prepara-
tion of the land in an area, along with the appropriation of a certain pro-
portion of the private lands by the planning authority. Part of this appro-
tion process, seize prime properties for speculation.
priated land is then sold in the market to raise finance for infrastructure
investments. The other part of the appropriated land is allocated for public
facilities such as roads, health and education institutions, public parks,
and low-income housing. This method of land management is also called
land pooling and readjustement after appropriation. In Ahmedabad, 40
per cent of the private land is appropriated by the planning authority. The
usefulness of this tool is in it doing away with the need for land acquisition
for public purpose uses.
11 In a majority of the cases of newly developing areas, land is acquired 12 The exception is that if permission for a building is granted in a non-TPS
without litigation, whereas in the older parts, litigation can drag the area, then only that building is entitled to water supply and drainage
implementation phase of projects. services.
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 3 - PLANNING, POLICIES, AND THE POOR
Due to the already dense development, imple- The other route to rban development is through
mentation of TPS often leads to demolitions and the project-oriented approach. Urban projects such
displacement of the poor and low-income groups, as the Sabarmati Riverfront Development project,
since they are usually squatters on these lands. Kankaria Lakefront project, and most recently, the
Often, even if they have bought the land on stamp Bhadra redevelopment project are designed and
papers, they do not have proof of ownership and implemented to beautify and/or redevelop/upgrade
their rights to the land are not recognised. Hence, infrastructure in existing parts of the city. Treated as
they are not compensated. discrete projects, their planning often neither takes
into consideration the adjacent areas nor the links
The recently legislated Gujarat Regularisation of between the project area and the rest of the city. In
Unauthorised Development Act, 2011, and Rules the Riverfront project, a Special Purpose Vehicle
2012 might provide a way for those with ownership (SPV) called the Sabarmati Riverfront Development
documents (stamp papers) to regularise their con- Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) was created and it
structions. However, this does not regularise land comprised the mayor, opposition leader, and several
ownership for persons with these documents, and it bureaucrats from the AMC and the state government
is still not clear if they can claim compensation. As (Desai 2012).
the Act states, no regularisation is permitted if the
land is designated for a specific purpose or is under The resettlement of the urban poor, displaced as a
alignment of roads. As a result, the constructions on result of various projects, has not been uniform, as
TPS-reserved plots would not be regularised. there is no city-level policy governing the nature and
process of rehabilitation. With project-based urban
According to the GTPUDA, 1976, both AMC and planning being divorced from city-wide planning,
AUDA have the power to reserve a maximum of less important issues take precedence over larger
10 per cent of the land for housing the socially and concerns, thus narrowing the possibilities of achiev-
economically weaker sections (SEWS). Between ing inclusive urban development. (See Figure 1 for
1976–2006, around 50 TPS comprised 172 plots, the chronology of housing programmes, policies,
measuring a total of 135 hectares, which were allo- and schemes implemented at the central, state, and
cated for SEWS housing. Out of these, a mere 6.11 per city levels by the respective governments.) ◆
cent was actually utilised for SEWS housing (Joshi
& Sanga 2009). Thus, it is evident that this system’s
potential in providing housing for the urban poor
has been unrealised.
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 4 - CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
PART 4
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
Since the 1970s, a number of non-governmental The NGOs had no role to play in the resettlement
organisations (NGOs) and human rights groups process. In fact, they had been approached by the
in Ahmedabad city have worked in the field of AMC a year or two after the families had been dis-
philanthropy, community development, and social placed. However, the NGOs have not been entirely
reform. Some of the organisations that are working successful in executing even this narrow mandate.
for causes which form the context of this paper are Mahadevia et al. (2016) question whether this is a
the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), case of decentralised governance or of simply pass-
which empowers the unorganised sector of self-em- ing the buck.
ployed women; Mahila Housing SEWA Trust
(MHT)13 and Saath, which are involved in housing The role that the city‘s NGOs can play in bettering
the urban poor and microfinance; Prayas Centre for the lives of the urban poor, in partnership with
Labor Research and Action and Aajeevika Bureau the government, has narrowed not only due to the
address the issues of the unorganised sector‘s work- changing directions of urban development under
ers, including those of seasonal migrant workers; liberalisation, but also due to political changes in
Sanchetana works in the sphere of healthcare, Gujarat and Ahmedabad over the past decade. Many
particularly womens’ health in the city’s slums; NGOs in the city recognise that this situation will
and, the Centre for Development (CfD) looks into require greater collaboration amongst themselves.
the formal education of the urban poor. In 2013, NGOs such as the Human Development and
Research Centre (HDRC), CfD, Janvikas, St. Xavier’s
MHT and Saath had partnered with the AMC on the Social Service Society, Sahyog, Raah, Jeevantirth,
Slum Networking Programme (SNP), an important and Manav Garima Samiti came together to form
slum upgradation project of late 1990s/early 2000s. the Aawas Adhikar Zumbesh Ahmedabad (Housing
However, AMC’s changing urban development Rights Struggle), a network that aims to give voice
paradigm seems to have limited the role that such to the poor and marginalised who face the risk of
organisations can play in bettering the lives of the being displaced from the city’s slums. These NGOs
urban poor. So, although these two NGOs were and some academic institutions’ members together
invited by the AMC to the slum resettlement sites carried out a public hearing on displacements in the
in recent times (discussed in PART 5), they had to city in December 2009, to put pressure on the local
follow the narrow mandate of forming co-operative government to take up the cause of Resettlement
housing societies there—a move to pass on the and Rehabilitation (R&R) of project-affected people
burden of maintenance of the sites to the residents. in the city. ◆
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 4 - CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
Figure 1
Chronology of housing programmes, policies, and schemes at the central, state, and city levels
National National Housing Draft National Valmiki Jawahartal Nehru National Urban Rajiv Awas Pradhan Mantri
and Habitat Policy Slum Policy Ambedkar Awas National Urban Housing and Yojana (RAY) Awas Yojana
(1998) (1999) Yojana Renewal Mission Habitat Policy (2009) and (PMAY) - Housing
(VAMBAY) (JNNURM) (2005)# (NUHHP) (2007) Affordable for All (2015)
(2001) Housing in (four programme
Partnership verticals)
(AHP) (2013)
State*
GTPUDA Continues till date
Funds routed through UD&UHD
Local
Sites & SNP (self- 500 AMC AMC + Projects In-situ 2 approved Projects
Services funding, NOC constructed AUDA limited to upgradation RAY projects approved
under World in-situ, in constructed urban infra- of slums on scrapped & under all 4
Bank funded existing structure public lands some AHP programme
IUDP slums on through projects verticals
public lands) developers undertaken
mid
1990s - 2006
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 5 - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
PART 5
SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
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CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 5 - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
Table 4 Figure 3
Spatial distribution of slums Spatial distribution of chawls
Commercial Informal Subdivisions Thus, in the absence of actual efforts by the state,
As discussed earlier, due to the slow preparation/ these services are often provided by private and
implementation of TPS, dense development has non-governmental actors. However, they are
occurred, often informally, in the city’s periph- profoundly inadequate and pose many risks. For
eral areas. Furthermore, communal episodes in instance, water provided through bore-wells is not
Ahmedabad, from the 1969 incidents to the 2002 potable due to its hardness and/or contamination
riots, have caused a divide, leading to the ghettoisa- level; improper drainage facilities make these areas
tion of Muslims. Many Muslims have moved out of prone to severe waterlogging during monsoon, when
the old city and mill areas of eastern Ahmedabad to life can come to a complete standstill and lead to
different parts within this zone and to the western severe health issues. Furthermore, not all initiatives
peripheral area of Juhapura (Bombay Hotel, Ramol, are philanthropic or empowering, for they seem to
etc.). This high demand for housing in these areas is involve forcible control of territories and muscle
met by builders through the informal subdivision of power and provide services as a business. Some of
agricultural lands and the development of housing these actors also have links with various state and
societies over these plots. While some of these soci- political agents. Also, due to the lack of infrastruc-
eties were simply plotted developments, tenements ture facilities, there are frequent gang conflicts, and
have been built on others. illicit activities such as gambling and sale of alcohol
in daru addas23 take place in these areas.
These land and house transactions have been executed
through documents such as stamp papers. The resi- Temporary Shelters
dents might legally own the land, but its non-agricul- Besides these two typologies, migrant workers,
tural (NA) use and the construction over it are illegal, mainly construction workers, face greater exploita-
since NA conversion has not been done and requisite tion and are more vulnerable than other informal
planning and building permissions (NOCs) have not sector workers, owing to the temporary nature of
been acquired. In a majority of the cases, particularly their work (Desai et al. 2014). They are unaccounted
amongst the low- and middle-income groups, the for in the processes of urban planning and the hous-
residents do not legally own the land either. While ing policies, and are thus forced to live in extremely
some builders may have legally bought the land and dismal conditions. Their shelters and settlements
then illegally subdivided it, others forcefully capture are generally excluded from the government’s slum
land and then illegally subdivide it. initiatives, therefore lacking water, sanitation, elec-
tricity, etc. Many of them are frequently subjected to
When these areas were under the AUDA and the eviction threats and displacement.
nagar or gram panchayats, basic infrastructure ser-
vices were not provided (Roy 2006). Even after being In terms of housing quality, two main types of
included within the AMC limits in 2006, these areas temporary shelters are commonly found in migrant
did not receive facilities such as water supply, drain- workers settlements: the potla type of shelters and
age, schools, and primary health centres. The reason kutccha shelters made from tarpaulin or tin sheets.
commonly given for this situation is that services The potla-type shelters are open housing arrange-
can be provided only after TPS are implemented in ments, where the residents tie up their belongings
an area. Although the municipal-level and state-level with a tarpaulin sheet in a heap during the day when
political representatives have allocated funds for they are away at work and open the heap in the eve-
development-related expenditures in their respective nings to set up a sleeping and cooking area. They are
constituencies, demands for better amenities in these found in settlements on pavements and street edges,
areas are not met by them.
23 Base/den that is generally used for illicit activities such as gambling, sale of
liquor, etc.
16
CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 5 - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
17
CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 5 - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
While the estimated number of allotted dwelling Western Ahmedabad, which is the area to the west
units is known, the number of those not included of the Sabarmati, developed as the residential area
in the resettlement process is unknown24 for many of the upwardly mobile, professional and business
reasons, some of which are a lack of an initial, relia- families. These families began to look for new
ble survey of households living on the original sites; housing outside the walled city in the 1930s and
confusion about the definition of ‘household’25; and, 1940s, which came up in the form of bungalows in
a rehabilitation policy stating that one house per the western area. This zone then became the address
household was to be allotted (Mahadevia et al. 2016). of quite a few academic institutions and the city’s
Thus, BSUP essentially became a tool for facilitating first public hospital. From 1960s onwards, a number
slum displacement and, in some cases, for capturing of elite educational institutions came up and new
public lands from the urban poor in prime locations forms of commercial development took place. Public
(Desai 2012 & 2014; Mahadevia 2011). Resettlement health as well as education institutions, including
sites are predominantly in the eastern part of the city‘s first university (Gujarat University), were
Ahmedabad, particularly its periphery, with only a set up with philanthropic funds (Mahadevia 2002).
handful in the western part (Figure 4). Post-2000, the western periphery witnessed the
development of gated communities and townships
Spatial Segmentation (Mahadevia 2013). To the northwest and southwest,
Ahmedabad has three distinct urban morphologies. as the Ahmedabad district has attracted automobile
The walled city, located on the eastern bank of the industries, there is a low-density urban sprawl on
Sabamarti River, was organised in pols or ‘residential the western periphery.
streets’, with each pol being homogeneous in terms
of religion, caste, and community. Although sepa- While this area has transformed into gated
rated thus, the different groups and communities communities—interspersed with former villages,
in different pols used to live in proximity without construction and migrant labourers’ settlements,
threats, restraints, or fear (Jaffrelot & Thomas 2011). and a few economically weaker section (EWS)
But now, Hindus and Muslims have become more schemes—the eastern periphery is divided into
distanced, after every successive communal riot. industrial pockets, residential localities of the
The eastern industrial section, which is to the east poor and lower-middle-class population, and land
of the walled city, developed when textile mills came under the EWS (BSUP) schemes. Furthermore, the
up in the late 19th and early 20th century. Here, primary Muslim ghettos have emerged towards
dalits26 and Muslim workers used to live in the same the periphery in both the southwest and southeast
chawls,27 but they have now grown apart, more so zones (Mahadevia 2007).
after the communal violence of 2002.
24 Leaders of the organisation that steered the resettlement process for those
affected by the Sabarmati Riverfront project roughly estimate that 1,700
evicted households were not resettled. For details regarding this resettle-
ment process, see Mahadevia, D. (2014b), ‘Institutionalizing Spaces for
Negotiations for the Urban Poor: New Vocabulary for Urban Planning’, in
Inclusive Urban Planning, State of the Urban Poor Report 2013, Ministry
of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, New
Delhi, pages 148–166.
25 A ‘household’ is defined as ‘sharing a common kitchen’. A problem arises
when a joint family has to be resettled. The slum dwelling unit is typically
an incremental house to which a room gets added when a newly married
couple becomes a part of the household. The resettlement units are either
one- or two-room units, making it a challenge to house joint families that
tend to claim to be more than one household in number in the survey.
Thus, the exact count of households to be resettled is nearly impossible to
estimate (Mahadevia 2014b).
26 People who are outcaste and are considered to be untouchables. They are
also known as Harijan.
27 Chawls are one room units laid out in a row.
18
CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 5 - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
19
CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 6 - FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
PART 6
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Ahmedabad has been selected as one of the first 20 Besides, the city has also entered the initial con-
cities to be developed as a ‘Smart City’, under the struction phase of the metro rail project, which
recent national Smart Cities Mission. The Smart comprises the East-West Corridor that connects
City Proposal (SCP) submitted by the AMC includes Vastral Gaam to Thaltej Gaam and the North-
a pan-city initiative in which a command and con- South Corridor which connects APMC Vasna in
trol centre with city-wide optical fibre cable (OFC) the south to Motera in the north. The project would
network to provide services such as water, transport, be implemented through an SPV—the Metro-
energy audit, surveillance, and traffic will be put in Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad
place, along with plans for area-based redevelopment (MEGA) Company Ltd. which has recently been in
through PPP and retrofitting for around 515 acres of the news1 for land acquisition and the displacement
a transit-oriented zone (TOZ) and 75 acres of slum of people along the proposed routes. Meanwhile,
area. Slum dwellers residing in the TOZ are proposed the city government is in receipt of funds from the
to be housed in high-rise buildings. The question of central government for various housing projects,
who is a dweller qualifying for rehabilitation in such under the new PMAY programmes for in-situ slum
buildings remains, for the city has not yet been able redevelopment through PPP, affordable housing
to work out a process for their identification. projects, etc. ◆
20
CITY RÉSUMÉ AHMEDABAD
PART 7 - CONCLUSION
PART 7
CONCLUSION
This City Résumé provides an understanding of the housing, its typologies, and levels of services and
historical, social, economic, political, spatial, and amenities available.
planning contexts of Ahmedabad. While Gujarat is
one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, With the Gujarat government’s increasing focus on
it has not translated into improved human develop- economic growth in the past decade, Ahmedabad is
ment in the state (Hirway & Mahadevia 2005). The being pushed to develop as a world-class city. This is
distinctive characteristics of Gujarat’s economy are, reflected in its urban development paradigm, which
in various ways, reflected within Ahmedabad, for represents an elitist vision, in a bid to attract more
example, through the urban economy’s reliance on investments. Furthermore, over the past two decades,
the tertiary sector and the informalisation of labour rapid and informal expansion has taken place on the
and the pursuit of pro-elite development policies city‘s peripheries. While Ahmedabad has received
with non-participatory governance that excludes the awards for best practices, such development projects
poor and low-income groups. have been implemented without taking into consider-
ation the urban poor’s right to shelter and livelihood,
While the shift of labour towards the tertiary sector thus deepening class-based segregation in the city.
and its informalisation took place in Ahmedabad A number of capital-intensive projects such as the
primarily due to the closure of textile mills from Sabarmati Riverfront project and Kankaria Lakefront
1980s onwards, the situation was hastened by the project show the shift towards project-based urban
central government’s liberalisation and privatisa- planning, which is divorced from city-wide planning
tion policies since 1991, which were pursued with and its more holistic concerns. As a result, narrow
more vigour and efficiency in Gujarat than in other concerns are often pursued through discrete projects
Indian states. This change in economy and the and ad-hoc decisions, further minimising the scope
labour markets under liberalisation contributed for inclusive urban development.
to increasing vulnerability amongst the poor and
low-income groups. Moreover, the city’s evolution On the whole, this résumé has laid out the context
over time, historically speaking, and the episodes for understanding the issues of housing and exclu-
of communal violence have together shaped its sion faced by the urban poor in Ahmedabad. This
present-day socio-spatial segmentation, according will guide the selection of specific case studies that
to class, caste, and religion as well as the quality of make up the BInUCom project. ◆
21
CITY RÉSUMÉ
AHMEDABAD
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