Page 37 - HUDCO Award for Best Practices - 2024
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THEME: HOUSING, URBAN POVERTY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
KEY DATES
DATES (days-month-year) Significance/Achievement
19-August-2021 Establishment of First slum parliament in Pumping station slum, Chintadripet, Chennai
05-June-2023 Laying stones for the construction work of Makkal Mandram
04-February-2024 Inauguration of Makkal Mandram
MOBILISATION OF RESOURCES
The total cost of the project is INR 66,80,000. The funding for Superstructure was carried by GCC (Greater Chennai Corporation)
under ‘Namakku Naame Thittam’ (Urban) scheme - INR 48,70,000. The plinth cost was covered by CSR Funding - INR 18,10,000.
The project execution was overseen by Team Recycle Bin, while Team Cheer was responsible for monitoring and managing the
allocation of resources throughout the project duration.
Sources of Organizational financing FY 2023 FY 2024 TOTAL
CSR Funding INR 18,10,000 - INR 18,10,000
GCC ‘Namakku Naame Thittam’ INR 24,83,700 INR 23,86,300 INR 48,70,000
(Urban) scheme
Total Budget INR 66,80,000
PROCESS
The process was initiated two years back as a design process responding to social context. The built elements presented as Makkal
Mandram is hence an evolved product of social process. Here the design brief was never predefined with imitating similar activities
as a prototype. Instead, the brief was informed by the learnings from the social process that got initiated on site before 2 years of
making the building.
Slum parliament:
• It is a convergence model.
• It comprises a council, an executive committee and a working committee
• Its accomplishment lies in delivering governance directly to the doorstep of the community.
• By enhancing the decentralized infrastructure delivery, relieves the local self-governance mechanism from the negligence of
monitoring nooks and corners of their jurisdiction area.
• Public follow up and monitoring system evolving as a new model of O&M.
• Channelizing voices and hence converting them to innovations in modes of infrastructure delivery.
10 Verticals that address all aspects of slums were formed: 1. Project habitat, 2. She project, 3. Skill bank, 4. Eco bank, 5. Project toilet,
6. Zero waste, 7. Kutty project, 8. Health capital,9. Project Art, and 10. Rights Literacy.
She projects (Suyam): it is the pivot of the process, Women as the major agents of livelihood. Livelihood being the pivot of the
project, Suyam was initiated as an entrepreneurship drive that would convert cities’ problems to slum’s enterprises. One broad vision
here is to hence convert the city’s association with slums as “cheap labour hiring” mode to “collaborating to enterprise with dignity”
mode. This social process has led to one component in Makkal Mandram”.
Kutty project: as Mind lab in Makkal Mandram. A significant majority of the youth in Pumping Station Slum, particularly boys, opt
for livelihood opportunities in close proximity to their residences, often leading to school dropouts. These young individuals typically
seek small-scale employment or enter early marriages. Consequently, the absence of youth engagement is evident in community
initiatives. Mindlabs aims to address this gap by specifically targeting young aspirants, who may be artists, athletes, musicians,
and others. As a result, Mindlabs will function as a hatching pad for these aspirations, providing a platform for the growth and
development of the youth in the community. The Mind Lab also hosts the Police Youth Club, serving as a channel for a government
department’s community initiatives.
20 21
