On arriving in Sangli we stopped at an
existing slum where Shelter Associates have added a toilet block some years ago.
The toilets connect to a bio fuel system that converts the waste into fuel for cooking
by the woman who maintains the toilets. Some of the women from the slum came
with us to Shelters office in Sangli. We then visited a site where construction
was underway for new housing in 4 storey buildings. The buildings are on the
site of a previous slum which was relocated to a transit camp and the families will
come back in 18 months time to their new homes.
I visited an adjoining slum to see the
types of buildings that were on the construction site originally. We also
visited the transit camp where the families seemed to be having a good time and
were happy to see Pratima and the Shelter team. That evening I attended a
meeting with the Sangli Municipal Corporation and Pratima and some of the slum dwellers
to try and resolve a disputed dimension that was holding up the renewal of
another slum in Sangli. A further meeting was held the next morning to try and resolve
the issue.
The Sangli process is impressive where
there is an overall plan to renew all the slum settlements across the city. The
next day we all went to an adjoining city called Kolhapur where the
Commissioner, who is a woman, wanted a presentation by Shelter to the city officials.
Pratima has two women from the Sangli slums now working for her and they give
parts of the presentation to the officials. The presentation appeared to go
well.
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