Slum policy confusion

(Letter to the Editor)

Apropos the front page report by your legal correspondent on the Supreme Court ruling asking authorities to remove slums in major metros (February 18, 2000), as a citizen who happens to have been an urban professional, I am now completely confused. The Supreme Court has called for removal of slums in major metros. Almost exactly a month ago the national media had reported that the honorable Minister for Urban Development, in the State Urban Development Ministers' conference, had called for planned resettlement of squatters. And the Draft National Slum Policy (that the Ministry for Urban Affairs and Employment has recently brought out) almost entirely advocates only slum improvement! With all the conflicting suggestions emanating from the highest levels of governance, will some one please tell us what is really being planned for urban slums, which, lest we forget, are beginning to account for the majority of the urban population in many places?

Gita Dewan Verma