Letters: Squatters have rights

This refers to the A K Bhattacharya's column "Politics of indifference" (New Delhi Diary, November 13). It is somewhat insensitive to dismiss the Aam Aadmi Party's promise of regularisation of unauthorised colonies as populist. It amounts to ignoring the root cause of why such colonies and slums come up in the first place. Poor people migrating to cities for work cannot afford to buy accommodation; nor are there affordable rental options available. The poor migrants are, therefore, left with no option but to live in unauthorised slums. In fact, Brazil did recognise this real root cause, and adopted an innovative approach of giving the squatters title to the land they were occupying. We, in India, need to take a similar approach.

Kishor Kulkarni Mumbai

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