[Reader-list] Mill Lands Public Meeting Tomorrow

[GIRNI KAMGAR]

GIRANGAON ROJGAR HAKK SAMITI

invites you to

A PUBLIC MEETING on  VISION MUMBAI and the MUMBAI MILL LANDS

Date:
SUNDAY 3 April 2005

Venue:
Raja Shivaji School (King George High School)
B.N.Vaidya Hall
Hindu Colony
Dadar (Central), Mumbai 400014

Time :
4.00 P.M. ONWARDS


Speakers: Dr Shanti Patel (trade unionist), Nikhil Wagle (Editor, 
Mahanagar), Shailesh Gandhi (civic activist), Rambhau Patil (Fishers 
Association), Ratnakar Matkari (author) Datta Iswalkar (Girni Kamgar 
Sangharsh Samiti), Gajanan Khatu, Meena Menon, Neera Adarakar and 
others.

After the seminar held on 16 February 2005 at the Rachna Sansad on the 
issue of the development of the textile mill lands, the resolutions 
formulated there (see below) were sent to the Chief Minister Vilasrao 
Deshmukh, with a request to meet him. However, there has been no 
response. These resolutions have also been sent to the Deepak Parekh 
committee constituted by the Government of Maharashtra to look into the 
mill lands issue. The committee has been requested to grant a hearing.

The issue of the mill lands is closely associated with the future of 
Mumbai and the issue of what kind of development its citizens want. If 
we do not react immediately, 600 acres of prime land in the middle of 
the city will be up for grabs and there will be no way to stop it. The 
issue of mill land development is a story of greed, corruption, human 
suffering and gross violation of law. It is not being used for the 
benefit of the city and the local residents, only for shameless illegal 
profiteering by the mill owners. Even land whose leases have expired is 
being developed by mill owners with the connivance of politicians of 
all shades, the civic officials and the mafia.

The government has now asked for huge funding from the Central 
government and from the World Bank, ostensibly to ‘develop’ Mumbai. The 
mill land scam shows how insincere these people are. The people of 
Mumbai cannot afford to be apathetic at this moment to the issues 
facing their city.  If we want to stop this we have to act NOW!

The meeting is to discuss a strategy to bring all sectors of people 
together and take the planning of Mumbai into the realm of public 
discourse. We have to demand full transparency in what they are 
planning; with mill lands, with World Bank funding, with slum land; to 
take the battle into the streets, against the illegal acts and the 
corruption at all levels in the government; to discuss a peoples plan 
for the city and fight for it..

We request you to make it convenient to attend.

 From Jyoti Berde, Yogita Salvi, Roshni Jadav, Pravin Ghag

Girangaon Rojgar Hakk Samiti
B-112, Saat Rasta
S.S. Rao Road, near Apna Bank
Lalbaug, Mumbai
Phone +91.22.2417.4048

_____


Resolution by participants in the seminar

TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION
TO THE ISSUE OF THE MUMBAI MILL LANDS

16 FEBRUARY 2005, Mumbai
 
WE, citizens and stakeholders in the city of Mumbai (list of 
signatories below) who are gathered here at Rachana Sansad, Academy of 
Architecture, Prabhadevi on 16 February 2005, resolved to place the 
following resolution before the Government of Maharashtra for immediate 
consideration:

The Mill Lands are the historic industrial core of today’s Mumbai 
Metropolitan Region. As the city authorities and state government seek 
to makeover Mumbai into a global city, the government has not 
recognised that these valuable lands were entrusted to mill owners to 
develop the textile industry and provide employment, not to speculate 
in real estate. This important fact has been repeatedly overlooked in 
the rush by not just mill owners and builders, but by government also, 
to cash in on today's commercial value of the Mill Lands. In 1991, the 
Maharashtra Government addressed the issue by allowing sale and 
development of mill lands under certain conditions, framed in the 
Development Control Regulations of Greater Mumbai (DCR). In Section 58 
of the DCR (1991) mill lands were to be shared in more or less equal 
thirds between the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for 
civic amenities; Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority 
(MHADA), for public housing; and the mill owners for modernisation and 
development of the mills.

This DCR was amended in 2001, and a provision introduced that within 
the land provided for public housing, 50% would be set aside for 
housing textile workers, and an additional provision made for job 
opportunities for the family members of the textile workers. These 
provisions were included in response to demands made by the textile 
workers, who lost their jobs due to mill closures in Central Mumbai. 
However these provisions will only be on paper, since the land now made 
available under the amended DCR 2001 is miniscule.

In the amended DCR of 2001, the land share of the mill owners has 
increased several times beyond the original one third. The land share 
of the MCGM, meant for creating open spaces and other facilities, as 
well as the land share for MHADA meant for public housing, have been 
reduced by more than 90%, in some cases to nil. This was done by making 
the one third divisions applicable only to vacant open land in the 
mills, and removing land on which structures are, or were, standing, 
from the purview of the one third division. This would have made sense 
if the mills were still running. Since the mills have been in a closed 
state, the land to be logically considered should the entire land, not 
just open spaces or those on which structures stood in individual 
textile mills. These structures have been or are being demolished, to 
make space for a real estate bonanza for mill owners and builders, 
development which gives nothing to the workers, or the city at large — 
as was proposed in the original Section 58 of DCR 1991.

The closure of the mills has already deprived the workers their 
livelihood. The 2001 amendments to the DCR, while claiming to 
strengthen these rights, will actually hand over the mill lands to the 
mill owners to do as they wish. The amended DCR 2001 will also deprive 
the residents of the Island City of Mumbai of badly needed open and 
green public spaces in a congested city. Because of historic facts of 
land ownership and use, and the history of mass employment and housing 
in the inner city textile industry, we maintain that the Mumbai Mill 
Lands are different from other kinds of industrial land in the city, 
and require different treatment.

We further feel that the amendments to the DCR do not constitute, as 
the Government claims, minor modifications in the Maharashtra Regional 
and Town Planning Act (1966). Any planning of 600 acres of land in the 
centre of the city constitutes a major social environmental 
intervention and issue of public concern, both for the middle classes 
and working classes of Mumbai. The amended DCR 2001 is an attack on 
citizens rights to space and workers rights to livelihood. The 
committee recently appointed by the Government of Maharashtra and 
chaired by Mr Deepak Parekh to inquire into the mill lands issue is 
compromised by the interests of mill owners, builders and financial 
institution. Any representation by textile workers on the committee is 
conspicuously absent.


We therefore demand that:

1.	The land share of public housing and open and green spaces in mill 
lands, as per the 1991 DCR, should be restored and stringently applied, 
not just to vacant land or open spaces, but the total land area of the 
mills. It should be seen that the 50% share for public housing is 
maintained for textile workers and their families, and the 2001 
condition that workers families be given jobs should also be retained 
and implemented.

2.	The Government immediately freeze the permissions for building 
construction on the mill lands until the report of the Deepak Parekh 
committee is released and discussed with the various stake-holders, 
including mill workers and citizens groups. This should be implemented 
with retrospective effect, applying to permissions already given under 
the original 1991 and 2001 amended DCR.

3.	The Government must publicly disclose (i.e. release in print and/or 
electronic form in the public domain) the list of the mills that have 
been already given or to be given clearance for development or 
redevelopment — including intimations of dissaproval, commencement 
certificates, approved/proposed drawings, true 7/12 extract of land 
ownership, and related permissions — along with their respective dates.

4.	The Government must publicly disclose, mill-wise, the list of the 
dues that have been paid to the workers of the respective mills (or are 
still to be paid) so that this amount can be juxtaposed against the 
profits generated through the development of the mill land. This will 
help to verify the stated rationale of the government that the increase 
in land share through the 2001 amendement of DCR Section 58 is to pay 
the workers their dues — which was the original rationale for the 1991 
DCR Section 58.

5.	The Government must publicly disclose all information on the land 
ownership, leasehold and/or freehold status of the land, and the terms 
and conditions/covenants of every mill. The terms of reference of the 
Deepak Parekh committee should be extended in order to obtain and 
analyse the rights associated with mill owners use of the mill lands.

6.	For purposes of these demands and resolutions, the mill land being 
considered includes both the mills of the National Textile Corporation 
as well as private textile mills, as originally existing.


We resolve:

  1. To set up an independent committee/study group of citizens groups, 
workers organisations and labour and housing activists to investigate 
into these issues and publish a report on its findings into the full 
range of issues relating to the mill lands. This committee will access 
all documents and information relating to land ownership, lease and 
tenures, development plans and building proposals cleared under the 
original and amended DCR 1991-2001. The committee will represent 
independent views and have a wide terms of reference to include land 
ownership, urban planning and comprehensive integrated area development 
of the entire mill lands.

  2. To distribute and publicise this set of demands and resolutions 
across a broad section of the public, civic organisations and social 
movements and to convene another meeting on the issue within a 
fortnight of this meeting.

Signed by:	

Aapli Mumbai
AGNI (Action for Good Governance and Networking in India)
CED (Centre for Education and Documentation)
Chemical Mazdoor Sabha
Citizens Forum for Protection of Public Space (Citispace)
CITU (Centre for Indian Trade Unions)
Combat Law
Commitee for Right to Housing (CHR)
CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust)
Workers of Crown Mills
FOCUS on the Global South
Girangaon Rozgar Hakk Samiti
Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti
Hind Mazdoor Sabha
Hindustan Siddhi Vinayak Kamgar Sangh
Kamgar Aghadi
India Centre for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL)
INTBAU India
LEARN
Maharashtra Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti
Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC)
Majlis
Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) Dock Kamgar and General Employees Union
Mumbai Study Group
NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movements)
Workers of New Hind Textile Mills
Nivara Hakk Sangharsh Samiti
Praja Foundation
Samarthan
Workers of Swadeshi Mills
Workers of Swan Mills
Textile Workers Federation of India
Yusuf Meherally Centre
Zhopadpatti Bachao Parishad


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