A slum rises from the ashes

Even after the fire destroyed all the shanties in the area,government agencies have not come forward to claim ownership to the land. Part of the land is owned by the Railways,while some of it belongs to the Collector and the BMC.

With over 2,500 people living here,forming a chunk of votebank in the area,no efforts have been made to evict them. Moreover,the ground floor structures had come up more than 20 years ago and are hence eligible for rehabilitation. While till last year,there were up to two illegal floors on top,this time around slumdwellers have gone up to the third floor.

Rinku Hashmi,whose house was gutted when his youngest daughter was four months old,has rebuilt his house in a pucca structure of bricks and cement. “After the fire,we got a paltry amount of Rs 30,000 each from the state government. We took loans from the moneylenders at high interest rates to build new homes,” he said. He added that the only problems now are the lack of gutter lines,irregular power supply due to no meters and no toilet.

“We have spoken to the local corporator and asked for the public toilet to be rebuilt,which was burnt down. We have to walk for five minutes to the public toilet every time. And the sewage water still flows out into the open,” he said.

The shanties below the foot overbridge,which collapsed during the fire,are yet to be rebuilt. The fire had spread to the bridge,causing it to collapse and the Railways is now very strict about not allowing any shanties to come up below it.