Satellite nodes, townships are the answer

As an answer to the growing population and dwindling infrastructure in the city, the state government is planning to imitate the Mumbai model in Pune, where people travel to the city to work and return home to satellite nodes and townships.
T.C. Benjamin, principal secretary , state urban development department , supports the idea. "Once the connectivity is established, people would happily settle down on the outskirts of the city."
Benjamin says even Mumbai is moving towards developing more satellite nodes.Once the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, connecting Sewri in Mumbai with Nhava across the creek comes up, it is expected to give a major boost to the satellite townships in areas like Panvel and Nhava Shewa.
Pune already has the comprehensive mobility plan in place, in which various mass transport modes are suggested. The state government has also written to Central Railway for laying sub-urban rail links to Daund, Mulshi and Lonavla.
This would also help the city tackle the slum problem. According to a survey conducted by Shelter Associates, a city-based group working for the urban poor, about 25-30 per cent population in city slums comes under the category of floating population. Forty per cent of Pune's population, an estimated 14 lakh people, live in slums. According to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) estimates, nearly half of the migrating population in the city settles in the slums.
The Shelter Associates survey also revealed that many of the low income groups want to settle down in their own accommodation but cannot afford it, thanks to rising realty prices.
The Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), the technical arm of the ministry of urban development, government of India, ranks Pune third among the cities with the largest number of slums. Mumbai is first in the ranking with 55 per cent of its total population living in slums, followed by Meerut, which has a slum population of 44 per cent.
Of the 244 sq.km., which come under the PMC limits, about 15 sq.km., i.e, six per cent of the total land, is encroached upon by slums. The city's slum population has grown by 176 per cent since 1991, thanks to constant migration.
Anand Sawant, a slumdweller, sums up the situation. "I shifted to Pune from Satara to work as a driver in a software company vehicle. I had planned to buy a one BHK resell flat by selling the farm land in my village. But, with rising prices, I could afford one-room concrete house in Parvati slum. Given an option, I wouldn't mind moving out of the city and travelling than living in a slum."