Gujarat has 9% of India's urban slums: NSSO report

Gujarat accounts for 9% of all slums in urban areas across the country, findings related to key indicators of urban slums released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on Tuesday show.

The survey estimated a total of 33,510 slums to be present in urban areas of the country, of which 41% were notified and the rest 59% were non-notified.

According to the survey, Gujarat accounted for over 9% of all slums in the country with an estimated 2,923 slums. This includes 2,058 non-notified slums and 865 notified slums. The survey estimated number of households in slums in the state at 3.36 lakh.

The proliferation of slums in the state can be mainly attributed to the high migrant population, especially in cities such as Surat and Ahmedabad, a large portion of which belongs to the labour class.

The data was collected by NSSO in its 69th survey between July 2012 and December 2012. The last survey on slums was conducted as part of the 65th round of NSS from July 2008 to June 2009. It covered 3,932 urban blocks spread over the country.

For the survey, any compact settlement with a collection of poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature and usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions, provided at least 20 households live there, was considered a slum. A settlement, if not a notified slum, was called a non-notified slum.

The survey said that Maharashtra, another highly industrialised state, accounted for over 23% of all slums in the country with 7,723 slums. Andhra Pradesh was next with over 13% of the slums, while West Bengal had a share of 12%.

Maharashtra also accounted for the highest percentage of non-notified slums with 5,769 slums, or 30% of the total. West Bengal accounted for 14% of such slums, according to the survey, while Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu housed 6% and 5% of the total slums respectively.