Figure 35: Map showing flood affected areas in 2006 within SMC

2. NSDP 3. National Urban Housing & Habitat Policy – 2007 4. JnNURM 4. RAY Awas Yojana 5. Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor 6. VAMBAY Housing 7. PMAY

There are state Government schemes for slum dwellers such as- 1. Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of Slums – 2010 2. Gujarat Slum Rehabilitation Policy – PPP – 2013 3. Gujarat Affordable Housing Policy – 2014 4. Slum Electrification Scheme

And local government level policies such as- slum networking Program in Surat.

Source: SMC Website

5.9 Challenges Faced by Surat and their direct indirect connection to climate change

5.9. 1 Flood in Surat

Flood is a common natural hazard which has already become seasonal phenomenon for Indian cities. Kerala, Meghalaya and Surat are few of these many cities which has a significant history of flood impacting their urbanization. in the year of 2006, Surat suffered from devastating flood due to consecutive rain of 3 days. Followed by these event, due to emergency release of water from the upstream of Ukai dam, 80% of the city got submerged into water.

Due to the geographical location on the bank of lower Tapi basin and downstream of Ukai dam, Surat is highly receptive to flood. During 2006 flood it had been observed that most of the people were not prepared for this calamity. Hence, as a result, SMC and SUDA both took adequate measures in terms of sewage, storm water and health infrastructure.

Talking about the flood alarm system, rain gauge has been established on the upstream of the Ukai dam. Calculations and flood-map have been prepared for the entire city in order to evacuate people from vulnerable areas during flood. Systems have been established over Athnur dam area and monitored by this department as a flood control measure. A model has been prepared by the tapi suddhikaran department with the joint association with the irrigation department, Ukai dam authority, collector department and SMC. They have proposed a rule book level of water. So by using this as thumb rule, they will monitor the water level 24*7 and can maintain the water level and excess water at one shot will not be released. Water level of Tapi, Ukai dam and Athnur dam are monitored by using this model. Also flood control room is operated through out the monsoon.

The 1994 pneumonic plague epidemic in Surat, which killed a large number of people, emphasized the importance of monitoring in India. The 1994 pneumonic plague epidemic still haunts the local people of Surat as the city had been converted into ghost city during that time. When the pneumonic plague struck in 1994, 40% of the city’s 1.4 million residents were migrants, with 80% of them living in slums. The first incidence of pneumonic plague was detected on September 20th, in a male migrant labors from Maharashtra who later died. Undoubtedly the root cause of the epidemic was social vulnerability which includes indicators such as gender and economic inequalities, unhealthy residential and work environment, lack of planning and citizens awareness and preparedness, and political biasness. Surat’s 1994 epidemic of pneumonic plague was the outcome of a succession of antecedent hazard events paired with a high social vulnerability. Natural or technological hazards events and other activities that cause environmental change can disrupt local ecological balances, leading to plague outbreaks. For example, habitat loss can cause congregation of sylvatic rodents into fewer areas, causing epidemics of rodent plague, or move them into new environments where the problem of domestic rats or humans exist. Flooding in Surat is also one of the major factor which helped in spreading plague. Surat’s unprecedented urban growth has resulted in a housing crisis, particularly for migrant workers. They ended themselves living in filthy, unsanitary slums with insufficient basic facilities. T he situation remains mostly unchanged. This haphazard, unplanned, and overcrowding growth can easily pave the way for a plague-like pandemic. Surat Municipal commissioner S.R.Rao took adequate and prompt actions in order to bounce back and forth against the negative externalities of penemonic plague. He introduced a new action namely “six by six by six” under which the entire city was divided into 6 divisions and the planning director of each division had the power equivalent to the municipal commissioner to take any kind of planning related decisions. Health facility of Surat got improved. Illegal structures were demolished without consideration for the political influence of the contractors. Littering fines were levied, and drains were covered. Payper-use toilets were erected in slums and markets. Officials also attended daily review meetings to examine progress and future objectives. The city was able to boost tax collection and project spending with better financial management and no external aid — neither from the state nor from the federal government.

“Surat experienced several epidemics each year, usually of water-borne diseases (Ghosh & Ahmad, 1996) and had a malaria risk ‘15 times higher’ than the rest of India” (Shah, 1994, p. 2675).

“Two years after the plague, Surat was adjudged India’s cleanest city in 1996” (Basu, M, et al. 2020)