PRANJAL BHUYAN
GUWAHATI, Oct 22 – Nearly two lakh people in Assam reside in slums across 31 towns in the State. As per the latest data from the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, the total slum population in Assam stood at 1,97,266.
The number of slum dwellers in Assam is the highest among the North-eastern States, even though they constituted less than one per cent of the State's overall population of around 3.12 crore, according to the recently released 'Primary Census Abstract for Slum, 2011.’
The report stated that 31 out of 88 towns in Assam have slums. Of the total number of slum dwellers in the State, 1,17,124 reside in identified slums, 70,979 in recognized slums and 9,163 in notified slums.
Among other North-eastern States, Tripura has the second highest number of people in slums with 15 out of 16 towns having slums. There are 1,39,780 people in slums of Tripura.
In Nagaland, 11 out of the 19 towns have slums, with 82,324 people residing in such places. In Mizoram, there are 78,561 people in slums, all concentrated in one town.
Six out of ten towns in Meghalaya have slums. The total slum population in the state stood at 57,418. Arunachal Pradesh has 15,562 slum dwellers, with their presence spread across five of the 26 towns in that State.
Interestingly, Manipur was one among the few States and Union Territories in the country (along with Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep) that are free of slums, as per the 2011 data.
Overall, across India, the total slum population as per the Census report stood at 6,54,94,604 in 2011. Out of 4,041 towns pan-India, as many as 2,613 have slum dwellers.
