Beneficiaries visit the ‘Sample Apartment’

On 22nd May 2012 members of the Sanjay Nagar (Miraj) community visited the ‘Sample Apartment’ which has been formed on site.

The Sanjay Nagar community are currently residing within a transition camp 1 kilometer from the land which previously accommodated their slum and is now being redeveloped under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP).

The beneficiaries visited the ‘Sample Apartment’ as an ongoing process of community participation, so that they could experience the houses that will be provided to them (on a

90% subsidized basis) under the IHSDP and, most importantly, to provide their feed back.

‘Sample Apartment’ on site at Sanjay Nagar in Miraj

Recently (May 2012) a ‘Sample Apartment’ has been formed on the Sanjay Nagar construction site in Miraj.

The contractor and the Sangli, Miraj & Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) were requested by Shelter Associates to accelerate the block work, windows and doors for one residential unit on this construction site so that it could be used as a ‘Sample Apartment’ to demonstrate the homes that the beneficiaries of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) will get, on a 90% subsidized basis, under the scheme.

Transition Camp Kitchen Gardens

The residents of the Sanjay Nagar slum, in Miraj, moved to a transition camp in October 2011 to allow the slum to be demolished (please refer to ‘Peaceful relocation of Sanjaynagar Miraj to a transit camp’ within the ‘Downloads’ section of this website for more detail).  Once the slum was cleared the Sangli, Miraj & Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) was able to hand the site over to a contractor whose services had been engaged to carry out the construction of 14 buildings, which will accommodate a total of 434 residential units, on the site as part of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP).

In addition to the essential service provided for the transition camp by the SMKMC (potable water, toilets, electricity and public lighting) the residents have established their own social services to suit their own specific requirements; the beneficiaries have established their own school (for the small children of the camp) and two shops.  The beneficiaries have also started to use much of the land immediately outside of their transit house and land around the transition camp for producing their own vegetables.  This local production of food reduces the beneficiaries’ expenses and reduces the requirement to bring vegetables into the community from outside.

Another ‘Smokeless Chullah’ delivered

On 13th May 2012 Shelter Associates delivered the last of the 23 ‘Smokeless Chullahs’ that had been given, free of charge, to the 23 poorest families of the Sanjay Nagar community (who are currently all residing within the Sanjay Nagar transition camp).

‘Smokeless Chullahs’ are a method of cooking (and heating water) which produce less noxious gases than traditional chullahs and open stoves; this means that they are better for the health of the cook, and the people (especially children) in the proximity.  The ‘Smokeless Chullahs’ also make cooking quicker, as they burn bio fuel more efficiently, and cheaper, as less bio fuel is required (please refer to ‘Shelter Associates: Smokeless Chullahs’ within the ‘Videos’ section of this website for more detail).

Le Monde covers the IHSDP in Sangli & Miraj

On 22nd March 2012 Le Monde, a leading French newspaper, published an article and an infographe (photo story) of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) in Sangli and Miraj.

Links to the article and photo story are below:

Original Le Monde article (French)

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2012/03/22/en-inde-google-earth-se…

Le Monde infographe (French)

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/infographe/2012/03/22/a-sangli-du-bidonvil…

Wordcrunch translation into English (dated 28th March 2012)

http://www.worldcrunch.com/google-earth-india-can-no-longer-hide-its-sha…

Times World (dated 28th March 2012)

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110387,00.html

 

IHSDP Weekly Progress Monitoring

During the weekly Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) progress meeting on Monday 5th March 2012, Shelter Associates, who are the Architects of the IHSDP, highlighted a construction issue to the Sangli, Miraj, and Kupwad Municipal Corporation.  It was agreed at the progress meeting that the City Engineer of the SMKMC, Shelter Associates, and the Contractor would meet on-site on the following day to discuss the issue further.

The weekly progress meetings are vital to the implementation of the program as they are forums where all stakeholders in the IHSDP are welcome to come to find out about the progress of the program and to raise any IHSDP related issues.

IHSDP Beneficiaries show support for the project

On Monday 5th March 2012 beneficiaries from one of the sites under construction in Sangli, as part of the city-wide Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP), staged a protest in front of the Sangli, Miraj, and Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) Headquarters.  The protest was intended to demonstrate the beneficiaries support for the IHSDP and to voice their complaint against the SMKMC regarding internal managment issues, present within the Corporation, which are having a detrimental impact on the implementation of the program.

Meeting with Sanjay Nagar Miraj beneficiaries at the transition camp

In mid December 2011 a Shelter Associates Community Worker, Mrs. Noorjahan Kaladagi, conducted a meeting with the beneficiaries of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) who had recently left their slum and moved to a transition camp (please refer to the flyer in the ‘Download’ section of this website called ‘Peaceful relocation of Sanjaynagar, Miraj to a transit camp’).  These meetings are part of an on going process of social mobilisation and provide forums for the details of the IHSDP to be discussed with the beneficiares.

Demarcation at Indira Nagar Gharkul begins

Shelter Associates were on site at Indira Nagar Gharkul on 10th January 2012 with the City Engineer of Sangli, Miraj & Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) and the contractor to check the dimensions of the land, and demarcate the 6 buildings that are to be built there as part of the Government of Indias’ Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) in Sangli and Miraj.

It was found during this exercise that the area of land was slightly smaller than the survey information held by the SMKMC, which meant that the sanctioned layout would not fit on the site.  Shelter Associates immediately investigated options to redesign the layout to accommodate all of the 6 buildings on the smaller plot of land.   A revised layout was rapidly realised and submitted to the SMKMC Town Planning Department as an amendment to the previously sanctioned site layout.