Perfect prey for Land Sharks...thank the politicians

The other day I saw 'Khosla ka Ghosla' on TV and it was a hilarious and thoroughly entertaining movie.The same day, almost coincidentally, the newspapers reported about the real estate prices soaring in Mumbai.Also the Congress were back with its populist strategy of promising the extension of the 1995 deadline(the deadline meanwhile is to discourage squatting) for slum rehabilitation to 2000(with the BMC elections in mind).This while the pre-1995 slum-dwellers are yet to be resettled.And emerging in this backdrop was a SRA(Slum rehab authority) scam - exposing irregularities in allocation.
(See:Indian Express)

As the ordinary citizen grows restless about slums, the government proposes a solution- 'Shanghaisation'.And then follow the jaunts by ministers, at tax-payer's expense of course, to foreign countries to 'plan for the development of the city'.To appease the slum dwellers , they promise free accomodation.Free? How?- the builders will pay the costs and in return get additional land for development.
(See : New York Times)

Put this in the context of the real-estate boom and you have a lucrative 'opportunity'.With large areas of slum-cleared plots up for grabs , the builders wont mind sharing the spoils with the ministers to acquire the SRA projects.The builders in turn build sub-standard flats for slum-dwellers ( often the occupants have no say in the design), leading them to rent their flats and go back to squatting.And thus the cycle continues, slums multiply - delaying and obstructing infrastructure projects and thus wasting tax payer's money.Today , the TOI reports even gangsters being allocated SRA schemes and making an estimated profit of 100 cr.
(See:The Times of India)

And while the sea sharks may be close to extinction, the land sharks continue to thrive on the bait of ordinary tax-paying public provided by the politicians.