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Some slum facts about Dharavi I gathered from my visit - Unfortunately we couldn't take photos L
· Only 1% of houses have a toilet in their home
· Public toilets are used an average 1440 times a day
· Government programme to build new flats failed because of unfair allocation of space
· Was declared an official slum by the government in legislation in 2004
· 1.2 million people live in the slum
· That's approx. 55% of Mumbai's population
· There was a flood in 2005, caused due to a blockage of sewerage, since then they clear the pipe just before the monsoon
· Muslims and Hindu's are split 50:50, and due to riots in their past, they live on different side of residential areas.
· There are 2 areas, industrial and residential
o Industrial-Recycling Plastics get separated by colour then put in a slicer broken down, washed and then melted into long strips and sold to industry to make bins etc.
o Aluminium is shredded and then melted in a furnace then put into a mould and make car parts, not 100% aluminium, it does have additives.
o Sewing (by men) and making clothing garments which are sold by individual pieces to local markets and large super stores.
o Pottery baking, at the kiln, they mould them and fire then, but not much work at the moment because of monsoon season, but there was a lot of smoke around.
o Leather manufacturers, they receive the leather, dry it out and put on a dye and a print then make them into wallets and bags for sale. They receive the leather from a slaughter house
· Government owns the land, but houses/area are the persons responsibility
· There is a lot of extensions going on, building upward rather than outwards!
· They have real estates who work within the slum
· About 60% of Dharavi is rented out by private owners
· There are 4 schools within the slum, 1 hospital (struggle to ever see a doctor though, such a long wait and bribery) a supermarket and a gym
· Future of Dharavi is uncertain. The Dharavi Re-development plan 2004 is a start but residents made 4 demands 1. Chance policy to make all slums official after 2000, not 1994. 2. Want max maintenance costs of Rs2000p/month 3. Want 400ft^2 not 200ft^2 of space. 4. Want somewhere to continue their businesses (leather, pottery etc.) which otherwise would be stopped. Only 1. And 3. Have been move forward in the 10 years since 2004.
· Need 70% of families to agree with this plan, but the residents don't want to
· There is no room to keep cows, so instead they get milk in by lorry and sell it, or they have pet goats for milk
· There is very little crime, just petty theft, money laundering and eating excess cough syrup (i.e. drugs)
· Everyone lives in the slums, it is quite expensive, so doctors, police, rickshaw drivers, rubbish men etc.
· Only 24% of the residents get safe drinking water
· Recycling accounts for 50,000 jobs in Dharavi
· Footways are uneven and dangerous
· Men all work, women go where the husband goes, so men won't leave their homes to new towns and get jobs, they will never sell anything given to them as a gift, eg a house
· Each area usually has people from a specific area or community of India
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