In India, one of every three urban people lives in slums. Land value are extradianaryly high and living conditions accordingly are worse in the million plus cities Slums have grown simultaneously with the growth of towns and cities partially in large industrial cities pro habitation of slums has been taking place whenever the urban resources are stretched by intense population pressure. Industries in all major towns and cities have attracted a sizable number of people from rural areas who were reeling under the pressure of poverty there by leading to proliferation of slums at a faster rate. Such people who came to the cities in search of livelihood settled themselves in vacant places, due to lack of any basic civic amenities and these areas have soon grown into slums where people live under unhygienic and insanitary conditions in India slums population has been growing at an alarming rate. Visakhapatnam the slums have been more or less a result of the rapid industrialization it experienced over the last four decades heavy influx of laborers from rural to the port city has meant a growth in slum population at a rate higher than 6% per annum.

During October,1985 and aprial,1986 the urban community development project of municipal corporation of Visakhapatnam has conducted as survey of slums in the city on the state of physical amenities in the slums and socio-economic conditions of slum dwellers. Most of the Visakhapatnam slum dwellers live under sub-standard environmental conditions. In this paper we presented growth of slums and their characteristics. The phenomenon of urbanization in conjunction with industrialization has resulted in the growth of slums. The sprouting of slums occur due to many factors, such as the shortage of developed land for housing, the high prices of land and building material beyond the reach of urban poor, a large influx of rural migrants to the cities and they are compelled to live in chaotically occupied, unsystematically developed and generally the most neglected areas which are over populated by persons and over crowded with ill repairs and neglected structures (Siva Raju & Udaya Kumar, 1986) There are many factors that contribute to the continued formation and expansion of slums. Among these are rapid rural-to-urban migration, policy failure, increasing urban poverty and inequality, population growth and globalization. While more people are migrating from rural areas to towns and cities, urban areas are not expanding enough, there are not enough affordable houses, and municipalities are not being able to provide enough accommodation.