Bridging the gap between local, organised communities and city government
Very little is published about the role of local government in urban development. Its importance is demonstrated in this insight, which highlights the crucial role of one senior civil servant, Sundar Burra, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Sundar Burra (centre) with Dharavi community leaders (Photo: copyright SPARC)
We celebrate here the amazing personal and professional relationship we shared with Sundar Burra. Sundar, a senior civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), chose to engage and work with urban poor organisations.
This coincided with our work in SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers) as an Indian NGO seeking more effective and empowering ways of working with urban poor.
Good choice, good timing
It was also a time when slum dwellers were organising, led by Jockin Arputham, founder of the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF). Frustrated by the lack of success in stopping evictions, this federation was exploring new directions – including setting up a women’s slum dwellers’ federation, Mahila Milan.
Sundar’s choice led to his working with Jockin – and us. We met him for the first time when he was heading the World Bank-funded Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
This was the beginning of a multi-decade, personal and professional friendship. Before we knew it Sundar decided to take prolonged leave from his government job to work with us, and subsequently joined SPARC as a full-time advisor.
Investing in relationships
From its early days in the mid-1980s, SPARC and NSDF chose to prioritise engagement with bureaucrats rather than with politicians.
Investing in government officials seemed a much more pragmatic choice because even if the civil servant moved to another department (common practice for senior civil servants), their experience with communities often meant they were more confident in engaging with these constituencies in their new positions.
Many of them circulated within the government urban development cadre and hence we often had the opportunity of meeting them again in their new roles. We viewed this tactic as an investment in transforming their relationship with urban poor communities.
We had the opportunity to work with some outstanding IAS officers, bringing to them strategies and information from communities living informally. Evidence through household data collected by local communities, along with insights from the alliance of SPARC, NSDF and Mahila Milan, had demonstrated the potential solutions and unusual partnerships that could work for the state and for communities.
Nowhere was this more evident than when undertaking vital urban development programmes for the most vulnerable communities.
Providing a much-needed bridge
This process gained greater momentum when Sundar joined our team. His experience and trusted relationships with peers and other state officials – as well as with community members – was the much-needed bridge leading to some historic and precedent-setting projects. This included those whose legacy remains long after the projects were completed.
There is no question that Sundar joining SPARC transformed aspiration into reality. He brought some amazing skills, including legal know-how and quality of engagement which turned out to be a master class for all of us at the alliance. Sundar used his influence at every opportunity so local community leadership was able to engage with local and national government.
A smooth relocation
Mumbai depends on its railway system. But the land immediately adjacent to the railway lines had been encroached by 20,000 households in informal settlements, where many homes almost touched the passing trains. There was an urgent need to clear the illegal settlements to allow for faster, safer and more frequent trains, but within a resettlement programme that served and benefited those displaced.
The development of a relocation policy for railway slums was much needed but contentious – unless the needs of those to be relocated were included.
Sundar’s gentle, quiet and persistent discussions with communities, World Bank staff, the implementing authority (MMRDA) and the railways, the landowner and the provider of the resettlement land, led to a partnership where communities developed, planned, executed and led the whole relocation plan with the full involvement of all stakeholders.
The relocations were completed, ensuring the necessary upgrading of the railway lines. This was undertaken by voluntary relocation, making the usual police involvement unnecessary, and became a precedent for the state government of Maharashtra.
Today all infrastructure projects in Mumbai follow similar, locally-led procedures and have inspired many local and state authorities to explore this model.
Sustained engagement and a deep trust
There are many other such examples when Sundar was instrumental in bridging the gap between organised communities and government.
These include the Dharavi development plan from 2004 to 2014, the Mumbai Sanitation and Upgrading Project (BSUP), and not forgetting his role in facilitating the Slum Rehabilitation Authority’s policy for pavement dwellers in Mumbai. Sundar similarly supported UN-Habitat and the government of Maharashtra in launching the former’s campaign for security of tenure in the state.
What is common, and of greatest importance to all these stories, is a deep trust and sustained engagement between senior IAS officers and communities. Shared knowledge revealed insights into what worked for the city and its most vulnerable residents. This two-way engagement between communities and the state in Mumbai became a template for other cities and states.
Organised communities, along with a strong engagement with the administrative part of the government, curtailed the politicisation of some of these important issues of resettlement and secure tenure for the most vulnerable in the city. Very often even the most well-intentioned among these civil servants are unaware of the power they wield to make a difference in the lives of the very poor.
After almost 20 years working with the NSDF-SPARC-Mahila Milan Alliance, Sundar retired and moved back to his family in Delhi. He was one of the initiators of the constitutional conduct group which sought a range of critical activities essential for ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens.
Further reading
- Towards a pro-poor framework for slum upgrading in Mumbai, India, Environment and Urbanization journal, vol 17, iss 1 (2005)
- Beyond evictions in a global city: people-managed resettlement in Mumbai, Environment and Urbanization journal, vol 14, iss 1 (2002)
