This story is from December 23, 2014

Over 70% urban slums in Rajasthan on open spaces, public parks: Report

More than 70% of urban slums in Rajasthan are on open spaces and public parks owned by local bodies.
Over 70% urban slums in Rajasthan on open spaces, public parks: Report
JAIPUR: More than 70% of urban slums in Rajasthan are on open spaces and public parks owned by local bodies. National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in its latest report on ‘Urban Slums in India’ also highlighted the dismal living condition of the people in these dwellings.
In per 1,000 distribution of slums by type of ownership of land, a total of 697 are on the land belonging to local bodies in Rajasthan while all-India average is 367.
Even drains and nullahs are occupied by large slums as about 235 slums out of 1,000 are in these locations.
Slums along the railway lines on the contrary are lower than most other states and only 195 per 1,000 slums are found at such spots in the survey. NSSO conducted an all-India survey of rural and urban areas of the country under 69th round of NSS during July-December, 2012. The survey dwells upon drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition.
The report which was released in November 2014 is being used by policy makers and researchers. The last survey of such kind was conducted in 65th round (July 2008-June2009).
The report also noted that as many as 27% of all slums in Rajasthan have no electricity connection. In all other states it is 10% or less and nationally it is 7%. Most slums, 674 per 1,000 have pucca (concrete) houses while there is a significant number (268 per 1,000 slums) which are unserviceable kaccha.
Urban slums that are mostly unrecognized lack basic facilities too. A total of 476 slums per 1,000 have no toilets while about 101 use dry pit. Similarly, slums with underground drainage were just 17 while most of them had open drainages and there were no drainages in 379 slums.

Garbage collection which is a larger problem in all urban areas is a menace in slums. As per the survey report 443 slums out of 1,000 had absolutely no garbage disposal facilities. In 352 slum households garbage collection happens in 3 to 7 days.
Apart from that, ohter benefits like school and health centres too are at a distance from urban slums in the state. Rajasthan is the only state in the country where distance of nearest primary government school from an urban slum is more than 5 kms.
An estimated total of 33,150 slums existed in the urban areas of India. About 8.8 million households lived in these slums with 5.6 in notified and 3.2 in non-notified slums.
Maharashtra with an estimated 7,723 slums, accounted for about 23% of all slums in urban India, followed by Andhra Pradesh (14%) and West Bengal which had a share of about 12%.
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