One Kilometer Can Change Everything: Mobility after Relocation in Ahilyanagar

 

SPARC and its partners at Columbia University, New York, have begun to work on informal settlements and informal transport as a vertical area of work, as Indian cities are beginning to get electrical buses from central government funds. Creating sensitivity to inclusionary research that links informal settlements to formal bus routes is an urgent and vital action and demand. A secure home is only part of building a better future but without affordable and reliable transport, families can find themselves further from jobs, schools, healthcare and opportunities than they were before relocation.

SPARC and its partners at Columbia University, New York, have begun to work on informal settlements and informal transport as a vertical area of work, as Indian cities are beginning to get electrical buses from central government funds. Creating sensitivity to inclusionary research that links informal settlements to formal bus routes is an urgent and vital action and demand. A secure home is only part of building a better future but without affordable and reliable transport, families can find themselves further from jobs, schools, healthcare and opportunities than they were before relocation.

This is the question guiding our work in Ahilyanagar, Maharashtra, where we are studying how relocation has changed mobility for families living in two rehabilitation sites—Varulacha Maruti and Katwan Khandoba. Together, these settlements are home to more than 600 families who were relocated from informal settlements across the city. While relocation has provided permanent and legally recognised housing, many residents have lost something equally important: easy access to the city.

Before relocation, many families lived close to workplaces, schools and public transport. Today, both settlements are located about one kilometer from the nearest arterial road. There are no bus stops within the communities, no shared auto-rickshaw stands and no organised feeder transport. Every journey begins with a long walk before public transport is even available. On a map, one kilometer looks insignificant. In reality, it can mean walking through intense heat or heavy rain, carrying children or groceries, or supporting an elderly family member. That first kilometer often determines whether someone can reach work on time, attend school or seek medical care.

Our conversations with residents bring these challenges to life. One woman now leaves home twenty minutes earlier every morning because her commute has become longer and more expensive after relocation. A student described how missing a shared auto means arriving late for school. An elderly resident said he postpones hospital visits because the walk to the main road is exhausting, while hiring a private auto from home is often unaffordable.

These stories show that mobility is not simply about transport—it is about access to opportunity.

Working with local communities, students from local academic institutions and our field team, we are mapping public transport routes, shared auto-rickshaw networks and residents' daily travel patterns. Household surveys and focus group discussions will help us better understand the mobility needs of women, children and older people, who often face the greatest barriers.

The findings will contribute to Ahilyanagar's City Mobility Plan and support discussions with municipal authorities and auto-rickshaw unions on improving connectivity to relocation sites. Housing and transport cannot be planned separately. A successful relocation is not measured only by the quality of the house, but by whether people can easily reach work, education, healthcare and other essential services. As cities continue to grow and relocate vulnerable communities, mobility must become part of rehabilitation planning from the beginning. Because sometimes the distance between inclusion and exclusion is just one kilometer

The aim of this study is to understand the access to public transport and shared mobility services in the form of autorickshaws before and after relocation. We ask what kinds of challenges relocation communities face around travel to key services like education, health facilities and jobs and what can be done to improve access and ensure that future planning includes this as a key metric for an economically vibrant and inclusive city. A key starting point for this work is understanding the existing public transport system and how it might be improved and extended to include relocation areas by co-developing analysis with the communities involved using digital tools and platforms and to co-create practical user-friendly improvements that make it easier for people to access transport and hence the whole city. Another important objective of this study is to look at the mobility needs of women and children, and make rickshaw services women and child friendly.

Understanding the challenges.

To understand the impacts of relocations, we wanted to understand if relocation truly improves quality of life, does it have any impact on mobility; how does it affect the choices that people have to make to access public transport especially for women and children, are the transportation related challenges taken into account while planning the relocation sites. The idea is to conduct a more systematic survey around the access challenges and to use this information to develop ways to address the many service access problems in these places.

The Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Relocation Site also known as Katwan Khandoba, was developed by the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Program (IHSDP) component of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The site currently houses families relocated from several informal settlements, including Indira Nagar, Kothi, Pune bus stand swastik chowk, manhihar chawl panchseel chawl from along the railway station      

Approximately 372 families were relocated to this site, which comprises 31 buildings and having a population of +2000 people. Families have been living here since December 2017. The relocation site is located about 3–5 kilometers away from their original settlements and lies in the vicinity of the Sanjay Nagar slum.

In the second site, i.e. Varuracha Maruti, there are approximately 252 families from 21 buildings that were relocated from Akbarnagar, Indiranagar, Kothala, Nalegaon, Laltanki, and those that were living along the railway station.

After talking to groups of men and women we understood that, “there is a lack of unity and trust among the families in the settlement” since they came from different places and many did not have pre-existing social ties.  Women also raised issues about their conditions. For example, during the Group discussion, they spoke about the social expectations like staying home and taking care of the young ones and daily chores Some women are not allowed to work or are afraid to travel because of fears of being harassed.  In some families, it is not seen as appropriate for the woman of the household to work with men, no matter what kind of job it is. In some families, women stepping out for work or participating in public activities is still viewed with conservative disapproval.

They also raised the concern of waste management as a major issue, with residents describing the daily challenges of managing garbage, as there is no doorstep pickup. The group discussion concluded with two women volunteers agreeing to do a mock survey at their household to help this work (Image 1).

 Our approach:

Before deploying our team to gather information, we had been talking with the communities (Image 2) identifying the community leaders and women who would lead the conversations with the local people. We also had multiple discussions with academic institutions like Ramesh Phirodia College of Architecture (image 3) and Centre for Studies in Rural Development (CSRD) (image 4) to look for students to join us in this project for them to build their knowledge on this subject and also assist us for conducting surveys. Our ground team based in Ahilyanagar, have been using public and informal public transport, therefore, have an idea of how the transport system works. Based on this local knowledge, GIS based maps highlighting the existing public transport networks and key areas where people commute daily for work and other activities were mapped. We prepared before and after maps of auto-rickshaw stops to visually demonstrate how access has changed due to relocation.  

 Talking with the communities we understood that in the core areas of Ahilyanagar, transport functions through a combination of municipal buses and shared auto-rickshaws. Ahiliyanagar is still working to build a bus system that adequately serves the city. As per our survey, at present, five buses operate daily on 5 routes, mostly linked through the Central Bus Stand. However, frequency remains limited, and waiting times can extend up to an hour. Even during off-peak hours, commuters often wait 20 to 25 minutes.

 

Due to this inconsistency, shared autos (image 6) have effectively become the city’s functional public transport system. Operating between routes originating from Maliwada Bus Stand to various locations across city, with multiple stoppages in between, like Vasant tekadi (22 stops),Gajanan colony (23 stops), Sahu nagar (12 stops), Alamgiri (10 stops), Vasant tekadi (11 stops), Savedi naka with (11 stops), Arangaon (6 stops), Lal tanki (6 stops), Vaishnav nagar (5 stops), Shivaji nagar (5 stops) covering approximate distance between 5kms to 12 kms, they charge between ₹15 to ₹30 per passenger and typically carry six commuters at a time. This flexible and demand-based system works reasonably well within the city core, allowing access to employment centres, markets, and institutions. The challenge begins when this network does not extend fully to the relocation sites.

 One Kilometer that effects the decision process.

Varulacha Maruti spans 3.24 acres and houses approximately 252 families, while Katwan Khandoba covers 3.61 acres with nearly 372 families. Together, these settlements accommodate more than 600 households. Both sites are located nearly one kilometer away from the arterial road. There is no bus stop inside the settlements, no shared auto stand, and no structured feeder transport. Residents have to walk around 1 to 1.5 kms to reach the main road before getting an auto or shared auto. On the map where one kilometer appears a small line, on the ground this one line under intense heat, during monsoon, or while carrying goods or child in one hand, becomes very hard and challenging.

During our field visits and discussions, one woman shared that after relocating, she leaves home 20 minutes earlier each day to reach her workplace at Market Yard on time. Before relocation, she lived in the Kothi area, approximately 650 m from her workplace. After relocation, the distance increased to 2.5 km, resulting in a longer commute and higher daily travel costs. A student described how missing one shared auto disrupts his entire schedule, creating uncertainty in reaching school on time. An elderly resident explained that he avoids frequent hospital visits unless absolutely necessary because the walk feels exhausting, and hiring a private auto from home to the destination costs between ₹200 and ₹400. These everyday adjustments requiring more time or missed services reveal how mobility has become a new challenge after relocation.

The Before and After of Connectivity

Before relocation, many families lived in informal settlements closer to their employment hubs or within the city core. Housing conditions were inadequate, yet connectivity was often easier. Auto stops and bus routes were within short walking distances. Post -relocation, housing quality improved significantly, with permanent and legally recognised structures replacing temporary dwellings but residents lost transportation options and access in the move and this needs to be fixed. To illustrate this transformation, we are preparing before–after maps comparing earlier proximity to transport routes with current accessibility challenges. These spatial comparisons show how previous settlements were integrated within the existing transport network, while the new relocation sites were constructed without giving any considerations to public transport connectivity and accessibility.

As our next steps, we will be conducting detailed household and transportation surveys as well as focus group conversations to understand the socio-economic characteristics, travel behaviour, and mobility patterns of relocated families and their needs and desires for addressing this situation. We will also talk to the auto-rickshaw unions and city, state and transit officials to understand how services might be expanded and share our learnings so we can co-develop improved plans that close transit deficit areas more generally. This  will not only provide essential data for planning gender inclusive and child friendly public transportation systems, improving connectivity and accessibility to not only the identified relocation sites but the city as a whole.      

Authors: Sheela Patel, Nihar Johari, Maria Lobo, Tanaya Walunjkar.