Hi tech Cities built on broken lives of poor people

This is a paper I presented in Mumbai University sometime in early 2007. Needs updating!
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Hi tech Cities built on broken lives of poor people

A case study of Hyderabad

Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) office, Hyderabad – March 2006, Rajanna – farmer of Kokapet village is waiting for somebody to tell him what the land acquisition notice issued by HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) really means. He owns one and half acres of land close to the outskirts of Hyderabad. He and his forefathers had been tilling the land strewn with rocks since a longtime and struggling to make the ends meet with this only means of livelihood. The terrain and weather have been hostile and benevolent in turns.

HUDA has issued the land acquisition notice 15 days ago and only a week ago did he and neighbors come to know about it. HUDA is to auction it off after developing it into a layout of one acre each to cater to the increased hunger of global capital for land in Urban India was acquiring the land.

Poor Rajanna who doesn’t understand the words like Economic development, GDP, National interest and 10% growth rate is at a loss as he fails to see the justice in land being taken away from him forever by paying only 4.5 lakh rupees (One acre is being acquired with a compensation of 3 lakh rupees) and the same land’s auction notice proclaiming the upset minimum price to be 4.5 crore rupees per acre[1].

Hyderabad, the happening city: -

“Hyderabad is now Highderabad,” scream the hordes of banners Times of India a leading English daily newspaper pastes all across the city. This neatly sums up the euphoria prevailing in the city in the circles that matter.

Hyderabad, the capital city of erstwhile Nizam dynasty and now the capital of Andhra Pradesh, the fifth largest state in India is the 6^th largest city in the country with a population of around 6.5 million. The city has been witness to continuous migration from all parts of the country and the state since its origin and is viewed as a source of employment and business.

In the mid-90’s the state government under the then Chief Minister and self proclaimed CEO of the state Mr.Chandrababu Naidu has identified IT and allied sectors as priority sectors for providing employment, income generation and also the much vaunted “global city” image. The process got a major boost with the establishment of HITEC (Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy) City a building exclusively for Software majors in 1997. It was a joint venture between Government of Andhra Pradesh and L&T with 12.5& and 87.5% share respectively[2]. It became a huge hit with the companies coupled with sops like tax holiday periods ranging from 5–10 yrs, low electricity charges and availability of a large number of qualified professionals.

The Result: - Hyderabad leapfrogged over many cities and presently accounts for 8 - 10% of total software exports of the country[3].

The rapid growth has created a large migration of people from other parts of the state as well as country. The population has increased from 2.9 millions to 5.75 million within 20 years[4]. The present population is expected to be around 6.5 millions. This growth has created a lot of pressure, on the natural resources like land and water within and outside the city.

Due to increased inflow of global capital and changes brought about as a result of investment in the form of loans and grants by Financial institutions like World Bank, DFID etc there is a section of population comprising of realtors, traders, local venture capitalists and politicians who have gained a lot in the process by way of accumulating land for themselves or for the external investors. The major losers are the general population who has lost in terms of their restricted access to following uses of urban land: - 1) Land for housing 2) Open lands like parks, lakes and 3) Conservation Lands like forests.

Their loss is by processes like

a) Violation of Urban Land Ceiling Act leading to accumulation of scarce urban land in hands of few individuals.

b) Forced acquisition of land from urban poor/Slum dwellers/Middle class families/ Urban and Peri-Urban farmers for “Public Good”.

c) Encroachments of Public spaces like parks, lakes and playgrounds by powerful people and their subsequent regularization by the successive governments.

The following case studies would reveal the various angles of attack on Urban land by global capitalistic forces.

1) Dispossession by Policy: - Outer Ring Road: - This proposed road encompassing Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) will be the mother of all roads in terms of size, investment and displacement of people. It will be an eight-lane 162 km road of 500-meter width and a projected outlay of Rs. 3,000 crores[5]. The proposed aim is to decongest the city by providing arterial roads into and out of the city so that the city can expand outside this ring road and population settling on the outer peripheries of this road will have quick access to various locations within the city.

The Conflict: - Because of the magnitude of the project a large number of people are losing their lands. Approximately 5000 acres of private land is being acquired for this project[6]. The losses are being compensated at only 10-15% of the market value citing the government valuation of the land to be acquired. The variation is due to the fact that the registered value of the property is always shown low to pay fewer taxes during land registration. The government has steadfastly refused to compensate land for land.

The alignment of the road declared in the original design and initial land acquisition notification has been changed many times till now[7]. The interesting point to note is the fact that according to the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, once land has been identified for compulsory acquisition further transactions between individuals is not allowed. The land registration authorities are not permitted to accept any new registrations[8]. This has not been followed and so in the initial stages after the acquisition notices have been issued people who were well connected and with deep pockets bought the land from the farmers and small plot owners at throwaway prices. The farmers were told that since they have the connections they can get better compensation from the government which otherwise is not possible. The owners sold it off at lightly higher prices than the government assessed rates with the fear of getting much less from the government. Once the land was thus snapped up, the alignment was changed and the land acquisition notices were withdrawn. This has happened not once, not twice but, four times.

This is nothing but cheating the people by subverting the very system that is supposed to be safeguarding them.

Dispossession: by design or default?? : - The hidden design in the whole project is better understood when we see the other rule, which has been shoved down the throats of people. It says that area within a kilometer on either side of the road will be classified as a “Planned Development Zone”, implying that the development in the city earlier was not a planned one. In this zone there will be special building rules. The minimum size of a plot for an individual house will have to be 500 sq. yds. And for group housing like apartments it will be 2000 sq. yds. (It was earlier 100 and 550 sq. yds. respectively)[9].

To an unsuspecting eye this would look like a very good urban planning policy, but by the stroke of a single pen what it has actually done is that it has increased the cost of housing 3-4 times due to which many cannot afford one in the area. They now have to buy more land, which is very expensive, or sell it off to a big developer who can satisfy the norms under the new rule. Rich people born out of the new economic policies of the state would ultimately gobble up all this land.

“All are equal in the eyes of law” or so we thought: - The more one thinks about it the less you feel it is true and the deeper one tries to understand the murkier the story becomes. The same road has to pass through areas, which are already developed with many houses and where the majority is the neo rich class belonging to the booming service industry. This new class has been successful till now in pressurizing the Chief Minister and other officials to build a road, which is only 75 meters wide in their areas where as the same road for the same purpose in other peripheral areas is being designed with a width of 150 meters. It in interesting to note that in the sections where it is really wide the majority of the land owners are farmers or middle class people who could not afford land within the heart of city and so bought land for their future homes on the outskirts. On being quizzed about the logic in this move the Project Director replied that it is being done to avoid “large displacement of people”[10]. Which sections of people are he concerned about is a matter of open debate.

The Saga of greed continues: - The land acquisition is not yet complete in the majority stretches of the road and already 2400 farmers are on the roads, literally, majority of them losing the only piece of land they own in this world. The compensation they will receive will not buy them even a decent piece of land to build a house for themselves in the city. Nearly 5000 farmer families and many smaller residential plot owners will lose their life time savings and efforts and end up with practically nil compensation.

2) Save Musi Campaign: - River Musi is a seasonal river of around 240 km length running through the heart of Hyderabad for around 20 km. This river used to be and still is to some extent the irrigation source for villages all along its course. In 1908 A.D. the river experienced heavy floods of great magnitude and caused heavy damage to the city. The then King Sixth Nizam Mir Mehboob Khan constructed two reservoirs, Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar just upstream of Hyderabad City as a flood control mechanism under the guidance of Mokshagundam Visweswarayya the greatest Indian Civil engineer.

Due to the above and many other events like deforestation in catchment areas, encroachments of feeder streams etc. the inflows started coming down slowly. From early 1970s, due to the increasing urbanization sewage started entering the river in untreated form and continues till date. The inflows of sewage have increased to such alarming levels that the river since a decade or so is nothing but a huge drainage channel acting as a receptacle of all the city’s waste including industrial effluents.

The banks of this river were relatively free of human settlements compared to today till 1970s. Since then due to the core of the city becoming expensive and various other events like slum removal from the heart of the city and migration of poor people in search of employment from other areas of the state people had started settling down on the banks of the river. Now the banks are almost completely occupied by tenements of poor people and include many notified slums (approximately 40)[11].

The people living here have made these riverbanks habitable after long and sustained efforts. The tenurial rights of these people are very hazy. Most of them have some or other form of legal or semi-legal documents like a notary agreement or sale agreements etc and most of them are not recognized by the government and they are officially classified as squatters or encroachers even though there have been numerous land transfers and they all have electrical connections, water supply connections and some even have house numbers and so on. The people living in these basthis (Slums) are very intricately linked to the communities of the surrounding areas and are integral the their development by providing the bulk of domestic help and industrial work force.

In 1997 the then government wanted to “beautify” the river by diverting all the water, natural or effluent entering the river through a small central concrete channel and open up the rest of the riverbed area for purposes like Parks, theatres, amusement centers etc. The people realizing that the bigger plan was to remove the slums all along the banks of the river then launched an agitation with the name Musi Bachao Andolan (Save Musi Campaign). In 2000 the river experienced heavy floods and the channel works were washed away[12]. The government then gave up its plans and the people’s movement was disbanded.

In early 2005 the new government with a grander plan, launched officially a project named “Save Musi Campaign” borrowing the slogan from the earlier people’s movement, by simple translation and submitted the proposal to Central government[13]. It is trying to access the funds from central projects like NRCP (National River Conservation Plan) and JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) with the official noble aim of cleaning the river and making the surrounding environs more conducive to people on the banks.

The total project will have Five Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) with a capacity of treating 592 mld (Million Liters per Day) and have Three zones: - a) Ecological Zone, b) Heritage Zone and c) Development Zone. The first zone will be for conserving environment by improving greenery and minimizing anthropological interference. The second zone will try to showcase the rich architectural history of Hyderabad by projecting the heritage buildings like High Court, Osmania Hospital, Salarjung Museum, Central Library and so on. The third and controversial zone is for “Planned” development and for revitalizing the economy of the area[14].

The grand design for dispossession: - The whole gamut of worldwide phenomenon leading to the poor being displaced from urban settlement can be seen in this project.

As long as the project area was close to a polluted river the land did not have much value for realtors and land rates were low. Once the river can be cleaned up by using government funds and the nuisance factor of bad environment and slums can be removed from the area the value of land bang in the middle of a city like Hyderabad where central places do not have any further scope for horizontal expansion without land being forced free from other uses the target land naturally becomes even more attractive for global capitalistic forces on the prowl for capturing more and more of natural resources.

This government as of now has an approved budget plan of only Rs. 6.06 crores for rehabilitation of 41 slums in a project costing Rs.906 crores in total[15]. This shows the apathy of the nexus of administration and investors. The total population in these slums is around 100,000. On being questioned about the meager allotment of funds the administration says that funds from other regular housing schemes for poor like WAMBAY and IAY will be utilized for the construction of houses. The estimated value of the land being occupied by the slums at the present market rates is around Rs. 3000 crores. This will increase by many times once the river is actually cleaned up and the beatification measures are taken up so that the area becomes aesthetically much more attractive.

This is nothing but the market forces dictating who should reside where and how – selective carving, which in turn are dictated by the flows of global capital. This creation of wealth is ultimately leading to dispossession or alienation of the majority in the society who actually pay more by putting in the initial efforts like a slum dweller clearing the place and developing it or a farmer making his fields cultivable to make it more valuable only to see them being usurped by people with power and means.

The “Master Plan” for New Spaces and Dispossession of the existing underprivileged: -

As with every other Indian city Hyderabad in the past one decade is seeing new spaces being created for the select few by their own comrades in places and positions that matter with scant regard to the existing populations and communities and their needs and relationships in their present form with that space. Hitec city and Hussain Sagar Lake surrounding areas are prime examples. The previous government led by Chandrababu Naidu created these new urban spaces by special ordnances and government orders.

The Hitec city is part of Cyberabad Development Authority, which was constituted in 2001, and is where all the knowledge oriented world with the global IT majors and Indian wannabes with the “Smart World” work and thrive. This place originally had a lot of small farmers who have been tilling a rocky terrain and eking out their livelihood. Initially Urban Land Ceiling Act was applied to acquire “excess” land from these people and the few lands that were left were then acquired under Land acquisition Act for measly rates to be given away to international Software giants like Microsoft, and Indian software heavyweights like Wipro, TCS, Satyam and others at throwaway prices for attracting them to invest in Hyderabad. This move did have the desired effect and a lot of Software firms have opened their shop in Hyderabad.

The local population after being cutoff from their natural resources has slowly drifted away to farther places unable to cope up with a situation in which their incomes have disappeared and the cost of living increased at a pace, which they could never keep up with.

Budha Purnima Project Authority is another urban development parastatal body, which governs the area, around the peripheries of the lake Hussain Sagar, a major lake right in the heart of the city. The areas surrounding this lake by their central position were naturally the magnets for poor people to settle down. Prior to the formation of this authority the lake was subject to a major beautification and development program in which its water spread area was reduced by more than 350 acres in the name of creating better accessibility, ambience and to improve the aesthetics some of the slums surrounding the lake were removed after declaring them as encroachers. After removing the slums the Government went ahead with a major drive of commercializing the lakeshore by giving contracts to eateries, entertainment centers and land on long-term lease to IMAX theatres. All these ventures were opposed by the greens in the city on the grounds that this move will actually lead to more encroachment of lake and increased pollution levels. This area is now for the aesthetic consumption of the population in general but the people who were residing in the area were removed with no rehabilitation or compensation after labeling them as encroachers. The government by this decision destroyed the lives of hundreds of people and at the same time created new ones for few with high profits and at the cost of the health of Hussain Sagar Lake that is so important for preserving the ecological balance of the city. These two areas are not governed by the zoning regulations of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority and have been notified as special zones. 

The Master Plan drama: - One thing that is most striking about all these projects and authorities is the way in which global capitalistic forces, bureaucrats and politicians come together for serving their common interest of gaining more control over resources like land, water and ultimately even the people. In urban areas, land being the most important asset the City Master Plan is the most important legal instrument, which regulates this asset. Every part of the city is legally bound for use as is earmarked for in the plan. The demands for housing and the greed to make more money by building more than what is legally permitted are a potent combination. They lead to this major problem afflicting many of the cities in the developing countries where unplanned and illegal structures are rampant leading to a host of problems.

The urban development authorities prepare the draft Master Plan and then after inviting public objections for certain duration it is modified if necessary and then sent for the approval of the Municipal council. After the approval of the council it becomes a legally binding document on the people living in the area coming under the Master Plan.  The very fact that 35% of the city’s population (an official figure which is contested) resides in slums[16] is in some way ironic and to us, a clear proof of the exclusivity of the process of preparation of the Master Plan.

In Hyderabad, draft Master Plans have been prepared and then completely revised for 3 times without any of them being ever approved since the last Master Plan, which was revised in 1980. The major reason other than the technical and bureaucratic problems is the unholy nexus of bureaucrats-politicians and land mafia that does not want a Master Plan. This lobby does not want an approved Master Plan so that land use can be changed at the discretion of the government as long as the Master Plan is not approved. This loophole in the legal procedures is being exploited to the maximum extent by approving constructions for residential and commercial purposes in areas otherwise earmarked for open spaces and green zones (Parks, lakes etc).

                   The other major impact of with this delay is the problems it creates for urban poor living in slums. As the Master Plan has been pending for a long-time, no new slums have been notified in the last decade or so. The number of slums has been rising very steadily and now stands at almost 1650 not including scores of other informal and unofficial settlements of which only approximately 1050 are notified. 

The Notification Business: - The advantage of a locality being notified as a slum is that the municipal authorities have to have allocation in their budgets for provision of basic amenities like water supply, roads, drains and so on. The legal standing of the slum dwellers on the land they are occupying also improves a bit and to remove them from that area proper procedures like eviction notice giving sufficient time have to be followed. In the case of a non-notified slum the authorities can remove the slum without giving any notice and they are under no compulsion to provide any amenities for the people.

The excuse given by the authorities is that the master plan pending and as soon as it is finalized they will get down to the business of notifying new slums. The spending of government has touched an all time low, so much so, that the UCD (Urban Community Development) wing of the municipality which plans for slum improvement and executes the same has spent Rs.115 million out of a sanctioned budget of Rs.860 million in the last financial year (2005-2006)[17].

The result of this delay is the fact that there are no projects for improving the environment of urban poor. People have to struggle a lot for getting basic facilities like water supply on an assured basis, sanitation, lighting, roads etc. The coping costs for the people in these areas are very high. There are numerous outbreaks of water-borne and communicable diseases with unfailing regularity. The people living on the barest minimum of resources in an urban area in terms of land, water, power or government spending pay the bulk of the cost for the city’s development by providing the cheapest labour working in the harshest conditions get measly sums in return and a heavy load of scorn, abuse and neglect.

This inaction of authorities in approving the Master Plan is a clear example of the capitalistic forces influencing the local policies however detrimental they might be to the local population.

Conclusion: - It can be summed up that in the present neo-liberal scenario the major focus of Capital – Local or Global is Urban Land. The link between urban land to livelihood: a Slum dweller’s, middle class plot/house owner’s or a Peri-urban farmer’s is being severed remorselessly in a very systematic manner putting millions of people to undue hardship and agony. The present governments are nothing but co-opted members of the these capitalistic forces and have distanced themselves from the plight of the common and poor communities and are busy in either doing or not doing things which harm these vulnerable and voiceless communities.

References:

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[1] http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/jul/21jafri.htm

[2] http://www.ltinfocity.com/html/promoters.htm

[3] http://www.rediff.com/money/2004/jun/11it1.htm

[4] http://www.ghmc.gov.in/cdp/chapters%202.pdf (City Development Plan – Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation)

[5] http://www.hyderabadringroad.com/html/project_features.htm

[6] http://www.hyderabadringroad.com/html/orr_land_acquisition.htm

[7] http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/31/stories/2006083111520400.htm

[8] Section 11.4 of The Land Acquisition Act of 1894

[9] G.O. Number 86/2006 of MAUD Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

[10] Personal Interview of the Project Director by the Author

[11] Survey done by CHATRI (NGO working on Housing Rights of Slum dwellers in Hyderabad)

[12] http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/12/stories/2005061217460300.htm

[13] http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/11/stories/2005061116240400.htm

[14] Information supplied under RTI to the author by HMWS&SB (Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board)

[15] Information supplied under RTI to the author by HMWS&SB (Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board)

[16] (City Development Plan – Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation)

[17] Information supplied under RTI to the author by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation