[Reader-list] Fwd: The Hindu:2, 000 rendered homeless after demolition drive

[Nagraj Adve]

2,000 rendered homeless after demolition drive




Rahi Gaikwad




We are implementing the government policy as per the cut-off date of
1995, says official







— Photos: Rahi Gaikwad



ON THE STREETS:Residents whose houses were demolished at the Anna Bhau
Sathenagar slum in Mankhurd, Mumbai, queue up for food. At right is
the scene of demolition.


Mumbai: Three-year-old Adnan is moving around naked. “All our
clothes are burnt and gone. I could only save one bundle,” said
his mother Zubeida Sheikh. Her house was among the 1,200 houses
bulldozed a week ago as part of the administration's demolition drive
in the Anna Bhau Sathenagar slum in Mankhurd, Mumbai.
The slum now is an open stretch of propped up bamboo sticks and rags,
barely shielding the people from the beating sun. There has been no
cooking in many houses as vessels and stoves were crushed to the
ground.
“We have been going to our sister-in-law's place to eat,”
said Girijabai Dalvi. At meal time, young and old have been queuing up
for food with plates in hand at the site where an andolan is currently
going on against the demolition drive. The agitation is led by Medha
Patkar of the National Alliance of People's Movements, under the
banner of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan.
What the bulldozers failed to crush was stolen by thieves, who saw
opportunity in the mayhem of demolition on May 13. Children lost their
schoolbags and books. Over 2,000 people were rendered homeless within
hours and since then have been languishing in a place that resembles a
dump yard.
“Please write my name. I have nobody.” The elderly Sarubai
Sonawne, who works as a scrap collector, cut her nose as she fell
while running away from the lathi wielding police.
In a city like Mumbai where lakhs migrate each year in search of
livelihood, demolitions are a part of life. The residents of
Sathenagar claimed that they have been living there for the past 10
years, a claim the Deputy Collector Dhananjay Sawalkar rejected.
“They are totally illegal encroachers. This land belongs to the
government. We received proof of residence from 2,300 people. A total
of 2,900 houses were slated to be demolished. We are implementing the
government policy as per the cut-off date of 1995,” he told The
Hindu.
The government's dalliance with the cut-off date is only worsening the
acute problem of lack of low cost housing and the spread of slums.
“First they fixed 1985 as the cut-off date [for rehabilitating
those who came to Mumbai before 1985]. This was raised to 1995. Now
the discussion in the government is on increasing it to the year 2000.
It's already 2010 and they are still discussing,” said activist
Mohan Chavan.
Ms. Patkar said the government's denial to declare an area as slum is
a conspiracy to deny land to the poor as the government has set its
sights on building towers. Having challenged the 24-hour demolition
notice, she said the drive was carried out even as the matter was
pending. Plus, the demolition was not done in an authorised way as per
section 4 of the Slum Act, since Sathenagar was never declared a slum,
she said. She also brought the ownership of the land in question.
Mr. Sawalkar, however, said that the lease of the Sathenagar land,
given to the Bombay Soap Factory in 1977 was terminated in 2005 and
now the land belonged to the government. “There is no need to
declare an area a slum if the land belongs to the government,”
he stated.
Meanwhile, the band of Sarubais and the unclothed children left in the
lurch grows with each demolition. Choking on tears as she remembered
the day her house went down, Kamal Eknath Lokhande said, “That
moment I was thinking, where should I go? What a time that was! Even
your enemy should not have to face such a situation.”
Does the administration or the government think about what will happen
to the people when their houses are demolished? “No, we don't
think about that,” replied Mr. Sawalkar.

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