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The residents of the Sanjay Nagar slum, in Miraj, moved to a transition camp in October 2011 to allow the slum to be demolished (please refer to ‘Peaceful relocation of Sanjaynagar Miraj to a transit camp' within the 'Downloads' section of this website for more detail).  Once the slum was cleared the Sangli, Miraj & Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) was able to hand the site over to a contractor whose services had been engaged to carry out the construction of 14 buildings, which will accommodate a total of 434 residential units, on the site as part of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP). 

In addition to the essential service provided for the transition camp by the SMKMC (potable water, toilets, electricity and public lighting) the residents have established their own social services to suit their own specific requirements; the beneficiaries have established their own school (for the small children of the camp) and two shops.  The beneficiaries have also started to use much of the land immediately outside of their transit house and land around the transition camp for producing their own vegetables.  This local production of food reduces the beneficiaries’ expenses and reduces the requirement to bring vegetables into the community from outside.

 

On 22nd March 2012 Le Monde, a leading French newspaper, published an article and an infographe (photo story) of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) in Sangli and Miraj.

Links to the article and photo story are below:

Original Le Monde article (French)

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2012/03/22/en-inde-google-earth-se...

Le Monde infographe (French)

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/infographe/2012/03/22/a-sangli-du-bidonvil...

Wordcrunch translation into English (dated 28th March 2012)

http://www.worldcrunch.com/google-earth-india-can-no-longer-hide-its-sha...

Times World (dated 28th March 2012)

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110387,00.html

During the weekly Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) progress meeting on Monday 5th March 2012, Shelter Associates, who are the Architects of the IHSDP, highlighted a construction issue to the Sangli, Miraj, and Kupwad Municipal Corporation.  It was agreed at the progress meeting that the City Engineer of the SMKMC, Shelter Associates, and the Contractor would meet on-site on the following day to discuss the issue further.

The weekly progress meetings are vital to the implementation of the program as they are forums where all stakeholders in the IHSDP are welcome to come to find out about the progress of the program and to raise any IHSDP related issues.

On Monday 5th March 2012 beneficiaries from one of the sites under construction in Sangli, as part of the city-wide Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP), staged a protest in front of the Sangli, Miraj, and Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) Headquarters.  The protest was intended to demonstrate the beneficiaries support for the IHSDP and to voice their complaint against the SMKMC regarding internal managment issues, present within the Corporation, which are having a detrimental impact on the implementation of the program.

On 29th February 2012 Shelter Associates Executive Director, Pratima Joshi, appeared on Australian radio.  Pratima Joshi appeared on ABC Radio Nationals 'By Design' program to explain why she received the title of 'Google Earth Hero' from Google and Shelter Associates city-wide approach to slum rehabilitation.

"Google Earth is the most commonly used, and most accessible, remote sensing technology which Shelter Associates use as a 'base map' to co-ordinate all of the data that is collected in relation to poverty.  This, spatially organised, data is all on the Shelter Associates website and is available to anyone, including City Corporations.  Google took the view that Shelter Associates were using Google Earth in an inovative fashion and awarded the title of 'Google Earth Hero' and made a short documentary."

"Shelter Associates advocate a city-wide approach to planning for the urban poor, as it is important to look at slums in the context of their neighbourhoods and the city.  If the situation is addressed in a slum-by-slum fashion then often the most vulnerable slum dwellers are moved to the outskirts of the city; which is detrimental to their way-of-life, as they are taken away from employment opportunities, schools, markets, hospitals.  

In Sangli and Miraj Shelter Associates adopted a city-wide approach and proposed a program of slum rehabilitation where 29 slums would be rehabilitated and none would be required to move out side of the city.  The project requires 22 vulneralbe slums to relocate 2.5 - 3 km from their current location to 1 of 7 'recieving sites' (slums which are being cleared and rebuilt at a higher density to accommodate the relocated slums).  This means that at the end of the rehabilitation process all slum dwellers from the 29 slums would have houses, essential services and most importantly they would have security of tenure and would all still be located in approximately the same area of the city.  This city-wide approach also ensures that the limited land resources available to the City Corporations are used optimally. 

This project is currently being carried out in Sangli and Miraj, and the city-approach has been incorporated within the guidelines of the Government of India's most recent slum rehabilitation program; Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)."

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