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Slums still not beyond hope

Raihan Sabuktagin
***“But now the situation is better. The slum dwellers are united against crime and aware of maintaining their security. We got help from the police as well”***
Crimes committed from the city's Korail slum have marked a decline thanks to awareness and skill development programmes carried out under non-government and community initiatives.
Visiting the vast slum under Gulshan Police Station this correspondent found some positive signs of unity against crime among the dwellers.
Abdul Mannan, chairman of the Committee to Protect Rights of the Slum dwellers, who is living at the Korail slum since 1996, said in the past social security was worst in this slum. Drug peddlers and criminals dominated the slum and females could not live with honour.
“But now the situation is better. The slum dwellers are united against crime and aware of maintaining their security. We got help from the police as well," he added.
Several thousand people are living in dark and dirty houses in an acutely congested area on about 150 acres of land in Korail slum. About half of the inhabitants are third and fourth-class employees of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board.
Mannan said outsiders are not visiting the slum these days as drug peddling has been stopped through community initiative. Children are going to the schools run by NGOs. Besides, commu-
nal harmony is growing among the dwellers.
Dwellers are now approaching jointly and more systematically to different government authorities for urban facilities. "Living style is a key factor. If you live in a dirty environment, dirt would affect your thoughts and activities, and it might cost the
whole society,” Mannan said.
Obaidul Haque, officer in-charge of Gulshan Police Station said, criminals used slums as their operating base because it is easy to hide there. But crime rate at this slum is lower than other slums mainly because of their awareness and unity against crime.
“Slums always keep an extra pressure on the police but I personally believe that development of the slum dwellers can reduce the pressure," he added.
This correspondent visited some other slums including those in Mirpur and Pallabi to see the crime and security situation there. Most people said the slums are a big
security threat.
Mohammad Abdul Momin, officer in-charge of Pallabi Police Station, said there are 45 slums for the Urdu-speaking people known as Biharis or stranded Pakistanis, which are the biggest concern for the police as they find it very difficult to deal with.
According to a survey
conducted by Center For Urban Studies (CUS) in collaboration with international donor agencies revealed that there were 4,966 slums in the city in 2005. The number of slums has increased in the last three years.
More than 38 percent of the total city population lives in slums, the study says.
Because of a high migration rate of the poor working people from villages to the city, the number of slum dwellers is also increasing every year. However, there is no data available on the present number of slums and slum population in the city.
Experts warned that if living condition of slum dwellers remains
neglected it would turn into a big threat to security as criminals mostly use slums as a safe haven.
Nurul Islam Nazem, professor of Geography and Environment at Dhaka University and secretary' of CUS who did the study, said slum dwellers are inseparable from the city life because of there service but surprisingly the city has no cheap housing facility for them,' Nazem said.
However, due to frequent eviction drives the characteristics of the slums in the city is changing over the years. About 15 years ago about 80 percent of the slums were on public land but in 2005 the researchers found 80 percent of slums on private land, the study shows.
He said for the last one decade or so NGOs are working on the slum dwellers' basic needs like pure water, sanitation and schooling, but these efforts are inadequate.
“Keeping next 30/40 years in mind, policymakers should come forward to produce a meaningful economic and social planning for the slums, otherwise it would be hard to save the city,” he cautioned.
Mostafa Quaium Khan, a top official of Coalition for Urban Poor, an umbrella organisation of NGOs, said about 1,30,000 people were evicted from over 50 slums in Dhaka through drives between January 2003 and May 2007.