Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui, social reformer, seasoned bureaucrat and housing expert, left us for his heavenly abode on January 28. His sudden demise saddened everybody. Few people can match the impact his efforts had on the lives of the ordinary. His innovative interventions in the domain of affordable housing, compatible infrastructure and services, institutional solutions aimed at benefitting the poor, and public service reforms became internationally acclaimed examples in social development.

Born in Meerut in 1939, Siddiqui moved to Pakistan with his family after Partition and settled in Sukkur. He studied at the University of Sindh and then joined the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in 1965. During his illustrious career, he served on many important positions, including the Sindh chief secretary. He belonged to a special breed of civil servants. Some of his colleagues saw him in the same league as Masood Khaddarposh, Akhtar Hameed Khan and Shoaib Sultan Khan. He felt the torments and tribulations of the ordinary people and used his skills and offices to benefit them, especially the poor. Some of his feats caused life-altering changes in the lives of some of the poorest people.

During his various postings, Siddiqui observed that the poor had very few options for decent housing. The 1970s saw massive social upheavals, causing dislocations and migration. Mechanisation of agriculture in the rural hinterlands made many farm workers redundant. The idle labour force moved to urban centres. Secession of East Pakistan in 1971 too caused a large number of people to relocate. Most of them opted for Karachi. The emergence of the services sector, rise in construction activity and employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector led many aspiring workers to try their luck in the cities. Siddiqui noticed that a vast majority of the neo-urban dwellers ended up in katchi abadis. Some of the state institutions launched housing and land supply schemes for low-income groups, but those remained unoccupied while the ‘illegal’ katchi abadis absorbed the poor and the resourceless. Through his deep insight, sharp observation and focused studies he unravelled the secret. He concluded that it was due to bureaucratic red tape, lengthy access procedures, incompatibility of the urban poor with the norms of development authorities, that the poor seldom got the plots developed to house them. Extreme delays were the norm in public housing schemes. For instance, Shah Latif Town to be developed along the National Highway was announced in 1979. It took several decades to complete the development work. The poor, meanwhile, could not wait. They needed shelter: immediately, cheap and readily accessible. They could not pay high lump sum costs for the so-called standard services and infrastructure. Thus, the katchi abadis thrived.

He was always focused on his work, much of which revolved around reforms in delivering affordable housing to the poor. This was the core activity he was eagerly involved with till the last day of his life.

Siddiqui believed that the dull and convoluted processes prescribed by the development authorities could not meet the housing needs of the poor. When he became director general of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA), he learnt that Gulshan-i-Shahbaz, developed on thousands of acres, was largely unoccupied. Not too far away from it, katchi abadis were consolidating their occupation of land. With the help of some colleagues, he earmarked a tract of land and devised an entirely unconventional process to help the poor. Through community leaders, the message was passed around that the really poor were welcome to access housing immediately. To verify that the applicants were genuinely in need and resourceless, Siddiqui offered temporary accommodation in a reception area. The applicants were invited to live with their families and belongings in the basic space. Water supply and public transport were the only services available at the settlement. Once the genuineness of their need was confirmed, Siddiqui and his team offered the applicants to move to an identified small plot and construct a house with any material and using any technique they could afford. So the poor found a land parcel and a house, without any hassle, waiting time or bribe. Somebody named this housing venture Khuda ki Basti. Perhaps no better name could be suggested. Siddiqui was perennially surrounded by enthusiastic residents, discussing ideas for improving their living space. Attired like an ordinary person, he appeared to be one of them. There was no bureaucratic frown or haughtiness about him. Eventually, he became their elder, always approachable and eager to listen to them. To improve the concept and the process, Siddiqui invited several national and international experts to undertake research and evaluate the model. Some invaluable knowledge and resource material resulted. To make the process sustainable, Siddiqui founded SABIAN, an action research NGO. More Khuda ki Basti initiatives came up in Gharo, Karachi and Lahore.

Siddiqui often ended up at logger heads with ruling juntas. For a while, he was made an officer on special duty (OSD). He used this time to work with Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan, the founder of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP); Arif Hasan, the noted architect and urban planner; Perveen Rehman, Anwar Rashid and others of their ilk.

For many years, he served as director general of Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority (SKAA). He brought about reform and rigor to its work that is worth emulating. Katchi abadis were carefully surveyed; selected for notification and regularisation under law. Once a settlement was regularised, Siddiqui would open field offices there to enable the residents to complete paper work at their door step. He mobilised funds to develop critically important infrastructure. With help from the OPP, the residents were mobilised to develop domestic components of infrastructure themselves. The SKAA developed secondary and tertiary infrastructure. To keep the process transparent, quarterly performance reports – including accounting details – were prepared and made public. Hundreds of thousands of poor people benefitted by getting the security of tenure for their modest abodes.

Siddiqui lent advice to government agencies, international financial institutions, NGOs, CBOs and academics. He said the projects he undertook were meant to sensitise policymakers. The Khuda ki Basti concept and procedures were incorporated in the draft National Housing Policy of 2002. The government of Sindh agreed to dispose of small residential plots through the Khudi ki Basti approach. Sadly, the promises were not fulfilled.

Tasneem sahib’s work was globally acknowledged. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for his outstanding contributions to human habitat. Scores of other laurels and much recognition came his way. However, he was always focused on his work, much of which revolved around the procedural reforms in delivering affordable housing to the poor. This was the core activity he was eagerly involved in till the last day of his life.

Siddiqui was a prolific writer and a sought after public speaker. He wrote pieces for national dailies, research papers, monographs and books. Housing and urban development, institutional reforms, strategies to benefit the urban and rural poor were the frequent themes in his writings. With his demise, the poor have lost one of their true supporters.

The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi