dharavi coronavirus

Planning for Physical Distancing May Be Challenging, But it Could Solve India’s Housing Woes

Rethinking the metrics of affordable housing and their practical implications could also serve the purpose of increasing the overall quality of life, especially in lower income households.

By now, it is evident that India’s current housing conditions make it challenging to practice lockdown and self-quarantining effectively. For starters, our high population density and low open space per capita in urban areas make outdoor social distancing practically impossible.

Around 34% of India’s rural houses and about 27% of urban houses are congested, as indicated by a 2019 NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) study on housing conditions. Moreover, the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of using non-shared rooms and bathrooms (wherever possible) for self-quarantine is simply a luxury that many in India cannot afford.

While India has taken some steps towards affordable housing, future housing design and urban policy should take lessons from the COVID-19 situation.

They must consider how housing conditions and better urban planning might improve the overall quality of life. Indian households often share basic facilities (including rooms, kitchens, and toilets), making indoor social distancing incredibly challenging.

Four in ten Indian households use shared kitchens. Over half of the rest do not have separate water taps in their kitchens. A look at our sewage situation reveals that almost one-tenth of India, and specifically, 16.3% of urban India, lack exclusive access to a bathroom, and use shared facilities (NSSO, 2018).

For every ten households in India, three either have open drainage systems or none at all. This is a cause for concern in light of a recent study by the University of Stirling, which suggests that sewage could also play a role in increasing COVID-19 transmission risk.

Also read: Sustainable Housing Can’t Slip Under the Radar Once the COVID-19 Crisis Subsides

Even after weeks of lockdown, infections are rising and the doubling rate of infection is worrisome. Currently, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Gujarat have the highest numbers of cases in India, and among the highest daily increases in number of cases.

These states also have fairly high levels of household congestion. Data from the 2018 NSSO survey on housing conditions suggests that about 38% of houses in Maharashtra, 33% in Delhi, 32% of houses in Gujarat, and 30% of houses in Tamil Nadu are congested.

Alongside congestion and shared spaces, population density is another factor that complicates physical distancing. Consider, for instance, that in Maharashtra, a large number of people from the Dharavi region alone are infected. This is one of Asia’s largest slums, with a population density of over 270,000 people/sq km, and is several orders of magnitude higher than India’s average of just over 450/sq km. Most of India’s major cities, also among the most population dense in the country, are currently COVID-19 hotspots.

Also read: Covid’s Lockdown: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Landlord Scorned

This has been the case in many other parts of the world, such as New York City, where the population density is around 10,000/sq km. For comparison, the USA, on average, has a density of 36 people per sq km; Italy has 205; and the UK has around 275.

India’s average house size is 46 square metres, even smaller than the average size of the smallest housing unit in NYC (around 58 sq m), and less than half the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) average of 100 sq m. This could further limit people’s ability to self-isolate within their homes, especially if household sizes are large and rooms are shared. India’s open space per capita is also quite low in some of its urban centres. It is 0.87 sq m per capita in Chennai and 1.24 sq m per capita in Mumbai. New York City and London, for comparison, have 26.4 sq m and 31.68 sq m per capita respectively. The WHO recommends at least 9 sq m, whereas the UN recommends 30 sq m per capita.

Figure 1 Open space per capita in various cities; Source: Observer Research Foundation

Addressing household congestion and improving sanitation are already part of India’s Housing for All policies. While resolving these challenges in housing conditions is not possible during this pandemic, future housing guidelines and regulations could benefit from bearing such events in mind.

Having more tangible physical measures for a good quality of life in the context of affordable housing, and understanding how to operationalise these, should guide future policy. We also need to identify the challenges involved in doing so and devise strategies to overcome them. For instance, what would the minimum floor area per capita be, to maintain decent living conditions in affordable housing? Can we make land available to facilitate this, without further environmental destruction? How can we improve and increase urban open/green space per capita?

Also read: Interview | Pandemic Has Impacted Affordable Housing Segment the Most: Sundaram Home Finance MD

Several studies across the world are currently trying to understand what this would entail, including the Sustainable Alternative Futures for India (SAFARI) project at the Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy. SAFARI indicates that India might need an affordable housing target that is as much as double the current estimated number in urban areas, to be able to meet its true housing shortage.

India might also need 50% more affordable housing than estimated in rural areas. This estimate is based on higher adjustments for existing houses ageing over time and becoming unfit to inhabit, changes in the size of a household, and on factors like congestion and minimum space requirements for a decent quality of life. This works out to a revised estimate of potentially 35 million more affordable houses than the current target of around 41 million, by 2022.

Rethinking these metrics and their practical implications could serve the dual purpose of increasing the overall quality of life, especially in lower income households.

It could also help improve overall health and hygiene in Indian living conditions. Careful planning could potentially contribute to improving our resilience to future infectious pandemics. It could also better protect the country’s most vulnerable, at least from risks aggravated by unsatisfactory housing conditions.

Poornima Kumar is research analyst at CSTEP.

The Wages Of COVID-19 Lockdown In Dharavi – A Sense Of Panic, Loss Of Self

A volunteer attending to the distress calls of migrant workers writes about their deep sense of alienation which needs to be acknowledged by society in a way that does not destroy their dignity.

Mumbai: “When this lockdown is over, please come to Dharavi; I will stitch clothes for you, for your family,’’ Jamil told me. “Do let me know.”

Jamil lived less than 15 km from my Mumbai apartment, in the slum clusters of Dharavi. Before the lockdown, he worked in a small textile shop in Dharavi during the day and retired to a cramped room that he and seven other co-workers had taken on rent. Years ago, he had migrated to Mumbai from Jharkhand to earn money for his family. When the lockdown was imposed, Jamil’s shop was shuttered. Without money to pay his landlord, he and his co-workers were forced out of their room.

He called the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) seeking help. As a volunteer with SWAN, I helped arrange a small direct transfer of money to cover his immediate needs. His offer to sew my clothes in return was generous. It spoke of the dignity his work gives him, and his pride in being able to provide for his family.

Jamil (in the centre) with co-workers: forced to live in the workplace after being turned out by the landlord. Photo: By arrangement

I have had the same offer from others calling for help from Dharavi: to help me with construction work, tiling or whatever their livelihood is. And, whenever I have listened closely, I have heard more. In their dignified voices, I have caught underlying notes of mental anguish that testify to the immense pressure they have been under during the lockdown.

Also Read: A Cruel Lockdown: Lessons From Relief Work in Mumbai

Crammed with makeshift tin and concrete shanties, Dharavi’s houses are particularly vulnerable to the spread of a virus. It is common for more than a hundred people to use a single bathroom. It is quite likely that someone who has been infected with COVID-19 has used it that same day. In the 2.02 sq km spread of Dharavi, there are 225 public toilets for a population of 8.5 lakh, out of which, as of June 3, over 1,849 people were diagnosed with COVID -19. That is higher than the number of infections in all of Assam or Kerala.

More than 70 people from Jamil’s immediate surroundings have already died from the disease. There is no way of practising social distancing in lanes barely wide enough for two people to pass each other without brushing shoulders. And there is no other place to be. Staying indoors – under hot tin roofs – is unbearable; for those like Jamil who have been thrown out, it is impossible. Claustrophobia mingled with the fear of the virus make the situation intolerable.

The narrow lanes of Dharavi.

Even setting aside the pervasive threat of COVID-19, food and money are scarce in Dharavi. From April 5 to May 31, of the 6,319 workers SWAN spoke to in Maharashtra, 52% had rations for only a day or less. In Dharavi, 60% of the 338 workers we spoke to said they had rations that would last just about a day or less.

Community kitchens have been set up in Dharavi by NGOs and religious organisations, but anyone who is late in joining the serpentine queue runs the risk of being told that the food is over. Then, there is no option but to go to bed on an empty stomach.

Most of the migrant workers in Dharavi whom I have spoken to want to escape. In that respect, Jamil was luckier than most. After he and his co-workers were thrown out of their room, they stayed in the workshop for a while. After almost 50 days of the lockdown, on May 12, he located a truck heading to his hometown in Jharkhand and left.

Others I spoke to have not been as lucky. Hira also lives in Dharavi. Before the lockdown, he was the sole breadwinner for his family of five in Bihar. He has not been paid since the lockdown began. In that, he is not alone. Nearly 84% of the workers in Maharashtra that SWAN spoke to said they have not been paid even partially during the lockdown. Like many others, Hira’s savings have dried up. He is desperate to escape Dharavi.

Hira and other workers waiting in line for a cooked meal served by a religious organisation. Photo: By arrangement

The Maharashtra government has set aside Rs 54 crore to get migrants home safely. Hira is hoping to benefit from this measure. The people living around him in Dharavi are struggling to get home too. They have been borrowing money or selling whatever possessions they have, to pay for the journey home.

The higher the desperation, the higher the travel costs – even a cramped squatting space at the back of a goods truck is going for thousands of rupees, which Hira cannot afford. His only valuable possession is his cell phone. Some time ago, he paid Rs 5,000 to buy it; selling it now will not even cover the cost of the trip home. He needs help but doesn’t know where to turn. Will the Bihar government provide help, or the Maharashtra administration? He sees no way out.

Also Read: Bablu Bhaiya, Can You Forgive Us?

As Hira’s despondency increases, so does his desire to see his family. He told me that the thought of seeing his hometown and the faces of his family members gives him goosebumps.

Migrant workers have spoken to me about their sense of hopelessness and social isolation. Sometimes, when I receive distress calls, I can sense that they just want to be heard by someone, to share their distress and inability to take any kind of action. Their words reflect a sense of panic and a loss of self.

Day after day, as I attend to the distress calls of migrant workers, I can think of only one thing – the crisis-ridden circumstances of these workers and their deep sense of alienation need to be acknowledged in a way that does not destroy their dignity. That basic need is not being fulfilled.

Migrant workers living in their workshop in Dharavi post-lockdown. Photo: By arrangement

In the time of COVID-19, the narrow lanes of Dharavi are not only physically perilous; they are exerting tremendous strain on the mental health of its inhabitants. That the current crisis comes with immense mental pressure has been widely acknowledged. The United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, has emphasised, “Mental health services are an essential part of all government responses to COVID-19. They must all be expanded and fully funded.”

On its part, the Indian health ministry has issued regulatory guidelines on handling social isolation during the lockdown and publicised a national helpline for psycho-social support counselling for people in distress – the COVID-19 Mental Health Helpline 08046110007, which acknowledges the need for assistance by children, women, the elderly and adults. I must add, though, that on the occasions I tried dialling the helpline, I was not able to get through.

When it comes to the working class, many are all too ready to believe that the idea of mental well-being is simply not applicable to them because they constitute “just brawn”. How wrong can one be?

When we are confronted with other public health crises, the aim is to do whatever it takes to return them to full health. For that we need to acknowledge that they are affected by the health crisis. Likewise, the extreme mental trauma of migrant workers trapped across the country by the COVID-19 lockdown requires a deeper acknowledgment. Migrant workers need to know from society that they matter, their lives matter, their suffering is of concern to those who inhabit cities they have built.

Jamil, Hira and many more migrant workers whose distress calls I attended came to Mumbai to secure a dignified life for themselves. For the little we at SWAN were able to do – transfer some amount of money to them – they expressed their gratitude, showered blessings and offered their services for free once the lockdown was lifted. It is their physical labour that keeps Mumbai, ‘the city that never sleeps’, on its feet. The pride in their work shone through in each conversation with me. It gave them satisfaction. But more than that, it gave them dignity; their hard work paved the way for their families to move forward in life. That work was put on hold by the lockdown, so too their dignity.

Yet, every time Jamil, Hira and others spoke to me and other SWAN volunteers, what came through was their quiet dignity, despite the deep scars of the lockdown experience they bear on their psyche.

They will survive this storm with their dignity intact. Whether our own dignity and self-respect survives this humanitarian crisis will depend on our thoughts and actions towards them now.

Ritika Sah is a development practitioner and a volunteer with Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN).

Sustainable Housing Can’t Slip Under the Radar Once the COVID-19 Crisis Subsides

For too long, development authorities across India have ignored the adverse impact of ‘densification’ and deplorable health and environmental conditions on people’s lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled us to critically review various long term measures that relate to a host of other matters with an objective of bringing about significant change.

One such matter that would require critical review and change is the state of housing that is intimately intertwined with the state of health and quality of life, particularly of the millions of working-class people and daily wage earners who live in slums.

As a matter of fact, dignified housing and conditions in which people live are an integral aspect of a sustainable health-care infrastructure. It is in this context that one can review the current state of housing, with reference to slums in particular, and discuss possible alternatives for the future.

Question of density and housing

For too long various development authorities across India have continued to ignore the adverse impact of densification on people’s lives. Density is a key aspect of housing and must be critically reviewed, particularly in the assessment of the state of housing for the poor and middle class.

In order to understand density and its impact on the quality of life and environment, we can consider the case of Mumbai, possibly the most densely populated city on earth, as an example. Any discussion regarding the state of housing in Mumbai will, hopefully, resonate with experiences in many other cities, thereby enabling dialogue across India.

The city of Mumbai has a total land area of 454 square km, out of which only 274 square km is considered habitable, with another 140 square km of natural areas and 40 square km area under airports, railways, defence and ports. A population of 13 million lives and works in this habitable area of 274 square km with a density of around 47,500 persons per square km (or 123,000 per/square mile). Of these 274 square km, only about 40% i.e. 110 square km is the approximate land area under residential occupation. Accordingly, the density in residential areas is about 118,000 persons per sq.km.

Also read: As Mumbai Seals Slums, Residents Face Struggle to Access Basic Necessities

Of the 13 million population of the city, over 6 million, without whom the city cannot function, live in congested slums, in deplorable health and environmental conditions, with no access to safe drinking water, amidst garbage pile-ups, overflowing drainage, inadequate sewage network, highly inadequate and substandard common toilets that seldom have water connections for use and maintenance.

In most instances, the 80-100 square feet one-room houses are cramped with six to ten people living in shifts. But, during a crisis, as in the current COVID-19 lockdown period, they are all bundled together for days and months. Such conditions would be fairly true for slums across major cities in India. In the case of Mumbai’s slums, besides the poor, a sizeable section of the middle class also resides in them as they simply cannot afford to buy houses that are available in the open market. The idea of social distancing in these congested settlements is indeed a tall order.

In the slums in Mumbai, these six million people live in a land area of 30 square km or 3000 hectares. The average density of the slums is 200,000 persons per square km or 2000 persons (400 tenements) per hectare. But, through the current state government policy for slums redevelopment, we witness the density in rehabilitation projects being raised to over three times, to about 6,500 persons (1300 tenements) per hectare— 25-30 storied high-rise buildings without open spaces and amenities that jostle with each other.

A woman sits on a ladder installed outside her house, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 13, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

This is the result of an ill-conceived redevelopment scheme by the state government without assessment of the social, environmental and health consequences. A plan in which people do not matter, as maximum numbers of people are forced into the smallest possible land area without any upper limit.

As a result of such highly oppressive housing conditions, there is growing evidence of fatal lung diseases, besides mental depression and social tension, amongst people living in slums and in such slum rehabilitation buildings. Ignoring such consequences, the state government in Maharashtra, in an irresponsible way, has periodically kept increasing the FSI (Floor Space Index) for slums redevelopment from 2.0 to 2.5 to 3.0 and recently to 4.0, and even to 5.0 for difficult areas such as Dharavi, thereby pushing the density further to a highly untenable and dangerous level.

Time to discard FSI as a tool of planning

Across India, developments are regulated by Floor Space Index (FSI) or Floor Area Ratio (FAR) as a tool of planning. FSI is the ratio between the total area that can be built upon a specific area of land. In simple terms, if an FSI of four is available on a piece of land admeasuring 100 square metres, you can essentially construct four times the land area, or 400 square metres on that piece of land.

Also read: Indian Cities Have Been Reduced to Just Real Estate

The formulation of FSI as a tool of planning is rooted in the idea of tradability and maximum profit. FSI is fundamentally a financial model in the interests of real estate business, but tragically, runs contrary to human development interests—one example being the total disregard towards densification or the number of people who would reside in any particular area, that too without adequate amenities and open spaces.

As a result, various development works including housing, are considered a commodity rather than a social good. Accordingly, in the housing complexes for the poor and the lower middle class, houses are densely packed without adequate light, ventilation and privacy. The idea of the ‘commons’ which include amenities and open spaces is entirely overlooked, as witnessed in the slums redevelopment projects.

It should be realised that a given land area can have many more smaller houses, therefore more number of people, than the number of bigger houses that would be possible in the same land area, having lesser number of people. Therefore, in the larger interest of justice and equality, it is numbers of people that must form the basis of the development strategy for land use and housing, and the concept of FSI should be discarded.

Way forward

Sooner than later, it will become critical for various state governments to undertake comprehensive planning of slums land in their respective cities with a new parameter, based on density rather than FSI as a planning tool. Such an approach will have to be people-oriented and a more humane way of defining housing projects. A paradigm shift in the very conception and understanding of housing is urgently required, instead of insisting on an ill-conceived, unplanned, piecemeal, fragmented and disparate, project-based approach that is fuelled by the short-term business interest of builders and developers.

High-rise residential towers under construction are pictured behind an old residential building in central Mumbai. Photo: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

The current slum redevelopment program in most cities is leading to anarchic growth and further ‘slummification’ of the city—only the slums are moving skywards. Total and dedicated dependency of governments on free-market led development has been a failure, considering the past 30 years’ outcome, since 1991, the year of liberalisation when the government backed out of its commitment to being a welfare state.

The government’s expectation that markets will perform the work of the state is a myth that has been adequately exposed. As a matter of fact, it is the failure of the market in promoting social housing that has led to the proliferation of slums. In any case, builders and developers cater to just about 10-12% of the city population but keep clamouring for further concessions and financial support from the government. It is high time that governments get out of such a failed arrangement and resort to undertaking the responsibility of promoting social housing.

Also read: The Murky Underbelly of Sanitation During the Pandemic

In the case of slum land redevelopment, it will be necessary for the government to initiate comprehensive and integrated planning on a participatory basis – a role that they have abdicated under the guise of privatisation and their commitment to follow the path of neoliberal globalisation. Master planning of slum land in each city will enable the government to regulate a maximum sustainable density across different slum pockets, while enabling individual slum redevelopment to proceed independently within the framework of the respective city slums redevelopment master plans.

There is huge potential of generating additional housing stock through the redevelopment of slums, old buildings and neighbourhoods, including vast stretches of land that have been entrusted to various state housing development agencies. Such comprehensive planning exercises would enable the enhancement of internal efficiency—health, environment, land use and density, and would present an opportunity to re-envision cities and towns on equal and just terms.

Once the COVID-19 emergency subsides there are chances that such issues will take a backseat and authorities will withdraw into the usual state of indifference and complacency, ignoring the much needed long term interventions that are required in order to achieve just and equitable development.

In the larger interest of housing for all, various governments and peoples movements can and should collectively and collaboratively focus on the many endemic social, political and environmental (including our attack on nature and the threat due to climate catastrophe) conditions that people are subjected to in their daily lives in the city.

Governments will have to guarantee reliable access to health care and housing for all. Otherwise, the resulting threats due to growing polarisation of people and communities, exclusion and deprivation, denial of access to dignified housing and amenities and, above all, the appalling conditions of living that are leading to immense suffering and ill-health, will further erode our current capacity and capabilities in dealing with progress, thereby destabilising cities further.

P.K. Das is a Mumbai based architect and housing rights activist.

In Photos: Fear, Foreboding and Makeshift Barricades in Dharavi as COVID-19 Spreads

Dharavi has 138 reported cases so far, but experts fear that number will accelerate higher.

Mumbai: In homes that are cramped, stuffy and increasingly low on food, residents of Mumbai’s huge Dharavi slum are struggling under India’s nationwide lockdown.

In Dharavi, where an estimated one million people live, residents are stretching out meals and relying on donations. But anxiety has been building since the lockdown began on March 25.

“I used to feed my children when I went out for work, but now there is only sorrow and no work,” said Najma Mohammad, who was employed at a garment shop that has closed. Her son and two daughters rely on food handouts from neighbours, she added.

Women and children cover their faces from a fumigation drive, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 9, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Dharavi, believed to be Asia’s largest slum, is a tough place to be confined, and also one of the most vulnerable to the new coronavirus because of the density of its population and poor sanitation.

Hundreds of people sometimes share the same bathroom. Access to clean water is not guaranteed. Soap has become a luxury.

“Anything can happen. There are nine people in this room, all of us could be in danger,” said migrant worker Namchand Mandal, who is from the northeastern state of Jharkhand.

A doctor wearing a hazmat suit and a mask, conducts a swab test on a man, to check if he has the coronavirus, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 9, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Dharavi has 138 reported cases so far, but experts fear that number will accelerate higher.

“I am really worried it is just a matter of time,” virologist Shahid Jameel said of Mumbai’s slums, which are home to an estimated 65% of the city’s core population of around 12 million.

Police officers march through a street in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, after a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19 is extended, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 11, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Anxious residents have tied handkerchiefs or shirt sleeves around their faces in lieu of proper masks. Some have also barricaded alleyways using carts, bicycles and sticks. Signs warn outsiders to keep away.

Still, many residents say it is impossible to stay confined in small rooms, which are sometimes shared by day labourers who work different shifts.

People play a game of chess in front of a closed shop, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 10, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Deep in the slums, people throng informal markets. Some adults kill time playing chess or watching videos on their cell phones. Children play cricket and cards.

One tailor opened his small shop early in the morning, saying he wanted to make a little money before police arrived later in the day to enforce the lockdown.

A man holds his ears while doing squats as part of a punishment imposed by the police, for breaking a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 11, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

Officers have punished lockdown violators by making them sit in the sun, do squats or by hitting them with sticks, according to a Reuters witness.

A policeman wields his baton towards a man for breaking the curfew, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 11, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas

“It’s very difficult. No one listens to us,” said one police officer in Dharavi, adding that some bank employees shared special passes with friends so they could move around.

Mumbai police did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reuters)

As Mumbai Seals Slums, Residents Face Struggle to Access Basic Necessities

The outbreak of COVID-19, particularly in the slum settlements, has proved to be catastrophic for the terminally ill, the poor and those dependent on government support for their survival.

Mumbai: With every dialysis session missed, 60-year-old Shahjahan Ansari’s ankles swell up and her joints stiffen due to the rapidly increasing fluid overload in her body. She has been suffering from an end-stage renal failure and has been receiving dialysis treatment three times a week for nearly two years. But in the past week, when the Millat Nagar hospital in Mumbai’s western suburb of Jogeshwari shut down after two patients tested positive for COVID-19, Ansari had to miss two consecutive dialysis sessions.

Because Ansari’s family falls in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, her treatment is covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY). But when the hospital had to shut down for a few days, Ansari, like more than 250 others undertaking dialysis treatment at Millat Nagar hospital, was asked to first undertake a COVID-19 test at a private laboratory to be able to avail free dialysis in another hospital. This test, priced at an unaffordable Rs 4,500 was to be undertaken on their own expense, with no support coming from the government. (The Supreme Court has since ordered that tests should be conducted free of cost.)

“Those accessing healthcare under the MJPJAY are all from extremely poor backgrounds. We have been out of jobs for nearly a month and this sudden demand to conduct such an expensive test at a private clinic was impossible for most of us,” Ansari’s son Fahim told The Wire.

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It was a double-whammy for the Ansari’s. They live in Jogeshwari’s Prem Nagar colony, or Bandra plot as it is popularly known, which has at least six cases of COVID-19. As a preventive measure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared the area, where over 50,000 persons live, as a “containment zone”, sealing every entry gate leading to the settlement. “Movement in the area has been curtailed. My mother can’t walk without support and I had to run around looking for a way to first get her to the testing centre, several kilometres away, and then find her an alternative place to undergo the treatment,” Fahim says.

The outbreak of COVID-19, particularly in the slum settlements, has proved to be catastrophic for the terminally ill, the poor and those dependent on government support for their survival.

Despite the complete lockdown, Mumbai, as of April 9, had as many as 381 containment zones. Along with a few residential buildings and hospitals, several slum pockets have been completely sealed and marked as a “containment zone”. As of April 10, 1,008 COVID-19 patients have been identified only in the Mumbai region.

When Mumbai registered its first COVID-19 case on March 11, the civic body’s focus was on identifying all those who had travel history to “affected countries”. Within two weeks, the nature of the spread had already shifted and the municipal corporation had several cases of those who came in contact with infected persons. But officials say in the past two weeks, the challenge has been to reach out to the densely populated slum pockets of the city. Many cases identified in the slums of Mumbai have people who have not had any travel history or the source of the local transmission can’t be traced.

A doctor wearing a protective suit stores a swab in a test tube after taking it from a man to test for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a residential area in Mumbai, India, April 8, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Prashant Waydande

The census 2011 data indicates that over 42% of Mumbai’s population lives in slums. Which means high population density is concentrated in sparsely available land and people struggle for access to basic amenities and health services. Government apathy is prevalent here.

Sajid, a young community worker in Jogeshwari, says he has been juggling several SOS calls from across the basti asking for food grains, medical help, ambulance to be made available to those stuck inside the containment zones. “If you don’t work, you don’t earn. And most people here live a hand to mouth existence. While the state seems to be taking measures to ensure the virus doesn’t spread, it is unmindful of the hunger and other concerns of the poor,” Sajid says.

Several NGOs and self-help groups have been chipping in and have been trying to reach out to those in need. Several online fundraising campaigns have been initiated since the lockdown and volunteers have been making dry food and cooked food packets available.

But relief work is particularly difficult in a containment zone, Sachin Nachnekar says. Nachnekar, who works with Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), an NGO that has been working with the urban poor for over three decades has had to lug the food sacks and manoeuvre several levels of hurdles before reaching out to those left without food and essential services in Mumbai’s western suburbs. “Since most of the entry points have been sealed in these bastis, it has become difficult to take our relief vehicles inside. The police simply say that we will have to lug the food sacks and walk to every gully. It not only delays the relief work but also leads to harassment of our young volunteers who are working day in and day out to help those in distress,” Nachnekar says.

Several slum settlements in the city also accommodate small-scale industries and processing units. The plastic recycling units, zari work, leather industries, wax printing, aluminium block manufacturing units thrive within the narrow, complex lanes of Mumbai’s slum settlements. Most workers here are migrants who survive on meagre salaries and are paid for the work done on a daily basis.

Since the lockdown, most labourers have survived just with the help made available by local NGOs and community centres. Girish Sonawane, a worker in a steel unit in Sakinaka, says help has been made available only on some days. “We don’t have a place to cook food, so we need ready-to-eat food to be made available to us. It reaches us some days. On other days, we survive on biscuits and bread,” he says.

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The difficulties faced are not specific to one or two areas but symptomatic of every settlement where people lack the financial capacity to stock up food for a long period. And the situation worsens when the areas are put under a complete lockdown making it difficult for them to even avail ration shops or the subsidised state-run food service, Shiv Bhojan scheme.

Towards the end of March, when over six persons—without any travel history—tested positive, the authorities had to immediately seal the entire Worli Koliwada area. Since then, the area has been a hotspot. In less than two weeks, cases here have risen to 51. The civic authorities claim to have surveyed over 14,000 houses and now the adjoining Worli BDD chawl, Janata Colony and Adarsh Nagar area have also been added into the containment zone. The G-South ward under which Koliwada and other areas fall have around 133 cases of COVID-19 so far.

While the health officials moved swiftly into the area to conduct door-to-door surveys, the same urgency was missing when dealing with those who did not have food or milk for several days.

Rubina, a 65-year-old resident of Worli Koliwada, says she had to survive on a loaf of bread and water for two days. She called the police helpline several times before help finally arrived. “The police here would chase away anyone who stepped out even for a few minutes to buy essentials. I don’t have a refrigerator to store perishable items, so setting out is inevitable. But the police wouldn’t allow it,” she says.

Most slums across the city are occupied by migrants from within and outside the state. Most of them are engaged in daily wage work or work in the malls and other service industries. Roofed under a one-room facility, Sanjay Shinde, convener of NGO ‘Aapli Mumbai’ says it is difficult for families to stay indoor 24×7.

“Lives in slums work in shifts. You can’t possibly have 7-8 persons living together in 10×10 feet room. People here mostly work in different shifts so that the room has enough space for people to live in. And when all of them are home, you will see people pouring into the street. This is a way of survival here,” Shinde says.

But last month, when the police began to close down areas in Dharavi after a spate of cases, several people – out of lack of space – were found outside their homes. An estimated 10 lakh people live in Dharavi, a crammed five-square-kilometre maze of narrow lanes, ramshackle buildings, shanties and open sewers.

A doctor wearing protective gear takes a swab from a woman to test for COVID-19, in Dharavi, Mumbai, April 9, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

The police allegedly resorted to force to push people into their one-room houses. When some youngsters reacted to this, there was reportedly a minor alteration. “The police were being high handed with the youth here. Some young men, frustrated due to the police’s attitude, chased them out of the gully. It was a small incident but some media reports presented us as uncouth, uncivilised beings who were not cooperating with the state,” Kutty, a community activist says.

Besides a few stray incidents, Shinde says since Dharavi has a strong community group, relief work, and lockdown has both been carried out well. The ‘Mohalla committee’ of Dharavi has been working closely with the two police stations—Dharavi and Shahu Nagar—to ensure that the health situation and the law and order situation in the region are under control.

As of Friday, Dharavi has 29 cases of COVID-19 and the disease has also taken the lives of four people. Considering the density of the region, Shinde says the situation can go out of hand. “But as long as the local bodies are willing to cooperate with the residents here and have a holistic approach towards people, the situation can well be under control,” he says.