In continuation to the Government of Odisha’s landmark initiative of the Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission, also known as the JAGA Mission, launched in 2018, and the successful implementation of the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act 2017, basic infrastructure upgradation and delisting of slums emerge as the next critical steps towards transforming these informal settlements into liveable habitats, integrated with the urban area.
Towards this end the Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) as knowledge partner supported Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, to prepare a ‘Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Participatory Slum Upgradation and Delisting’. The SOP intends to benefit the key stakeholders by laying down the procedure and benchmarks for undertaking participatory integrated slum level infrastructure upgradation and establishing procedure and documentation for delisting of the slum, to integrate it to the rest of the urban area. This SOP will act as an enabler for ULBs partnering with the Slum Dwellers’ Associations to ensure the availability of adequate basic services to mainstream the slums into the city fabric. This SOP lays down the integral steps to realise community-level benefits building on land rights distribution towards achieving the broader vision of a Liveable Habitat for all.
Guided by the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017 along with the allied Rules and the policy framework provided by the revised Slum Redevelopment & Development Policy 2011 (under revision), this document outlines the SOP via a Government Order for participatory upgradation of infrastructure and delisting of slums, progressing towards a liveable habitat. With this SOP, the Government of Odisha aims to initiate the next phase of the JAGA Mission to:
(a) Move towards slum upgradation, by addressing the primary inequalities prevailing in urban areas to integrate the informal settlements into the mainstream city fabric;
(b) Create conditions for reducing the growth of slums in urban areas in the future, by addressing the core issues of access to land, services, housing and other necessities of urban life for the poor;
(c) Move up the ladder of building resilience in urban areas and slum proofing the city, by progressing from individual to community level to city level benefits, thereby ensuring increased urban resilience.
The Government of Odisha aims to use this SOP to further embed participation of slum residents in urban planning, development and decentralisation of decision-making processes (by activating Ward Officers) to achieve its vision of inclusive, egalitarian and liveable urban habitats.