Slum improvement through greater participation

The improvement and up gradation of existing slums and squatter settlements are necessary to relieve the hardships of the inhabitants owning such structures.  The implementation of the slum improvement scheme should also be entrusted to the voluntary agencies and the inhabitants’ own groups should also be given the responsibility of maintaining the basic services, which is generally neglected. 
 
The financial assistance should also be provided to make the dwellings more habitable and also to minimize the fire hazards on account of which a large number of huts are often destroyed rendering poor families homeless.  In Kochi, the proliferation of slums is taking place due to the non-availability of adequate living spaces for the people migrating to the urban areas.
 
Till recent times, the government gave emphasis in improving the living amenities of the people living in the urban slums.  Even then, the improvements affected were only nominal.  Organized development on a mass scale was practically unheard of.  Not only that the people who availed the financial assistances always misused the funds and finally in many cases the government had to write off the loans on one pretext or the other.
 
Only with the entry of the private developers did organized real estate development get popularized.  Thus in recent times when considering the cost involved in developing an a Apartment Kochi and its renowned builders are able to offer the urban dwellers something of value at affordable costs, even when the cost of the inputs are spiraling upwards due to the vagaries in the world economy.  Due to the proliferation of the high rises in the city, more developments are likely to be seen in the future.  The present slums in the urban areas are likely to see better developments if the owners of fragmented land areas are willing to pool together their resources to develop it.