Andhra Pradesh has highest urban slums after Maharashtra

The increasing number of migration to towns and cities is the biggest challenge for the government, increasing the population in urban slums. Andhra Pradesh has the highest population of slums in India after Maharashtra. According to Niti Aayog, about 16% of the urban slums are in Andhra Pradesh, after 18% in Maharashtra. According to Dr Abdul Razak, an expert urban planner and dean of planning at the School of Architecture and Planning (SPA), Vijayawada, the increasing population of urban slums is a big threat to the planning of urban areas, while the increasing migration of urban areas is a welcoming sign. Andhra Pradesh has created the highest urban civic bodies to draw more funds from the Centre for improving infrastructure. As per the experts, the creation of new urban civic bodies without proper planning has led to an increase in urban slums. Razak said that the planning for small and medium towns should be the priority of the local government. He added that slum houses should be integrated spatially by creating spatial access, including potable drinking water, primary health service, sanitation, recreational and socialisation spaces. Unplanned urbanisation has led to increasing slums. Andhra Pradesh has 17 municipal corporations, 80 municipalities and 30 nagar panchayats. Town planning officers with the required qualifications are very few in the cities. Officials and building inspectors have little knowledge of the process of town planning. The state government has appointed many planning secretaries in the ward secretariats in the state in the last two years. As per a report, Andhra Pradesh has 6,239 slums in around 140 urban local bodies. An architect, Md Hakeem, said that the slum population would wreak havoc with the urban infrastructure, leading to frequent floods in future. Image Source