Slums/Urban Poor - Price Paid for Basic services

The middle class/upper class attitude towards slums (which is documented in moveies/surveys) is one where they think slum dwellers are of no use and they use up resources and tax payers money. Focussing the aspect of slum dwellers dont pay for basic services, I have blooged earlier that various surveys/studies have shown that slum dwellers pay a lot for services as water, electcrity, rent to stay etc.

This article talks about a study by SPARC on how much is paid by slum dwellers for water in Pune & Mumbai.

Infochange India News Features agenda: The price poor pay in Mumbai & Pune

Daily wage-earners pay up to 20% of their wages on water; slum-dwellers pay Rs 5 per can of water; others tap into water lines illegally, or pay the local mafia for the supply…These are stories that illustrate the political economy of water that operates in the slums of Mumbai and Pune



A report by SPARC, ‘Our Needs, Our Priorities: Men and Women from the Slums of Mumbai and Pune Talk About Their Needs for Water and Sanitation’ (done in 2002-2003) by Meera Bapat and Indu Agarwal, points out how stressful and time-consuming the exercise of accessing water is for half of Mumbai’s population -- those who live in slums and on the city’s pavements. Slum- and pavement-dwellers spend nearly 10-13% of their income on water. In most cases it is either the “private” water mafia that benefits or local civic officials

Continued on the website.