MbPT land oustees spend chilly nights in the open

With no roof over their heads, the health of Shaikh’s five-year-old daughter, who was suffering from acute anaemia, deteriorated and, on November 28, she breathed her last. The cause of death has been identified as cardio-respiratory arrest.

“The heat during the day and the chilly sea breeze at night worsened her condition. She was too weak to move and died in my arms before I could even take her to a doctor. If we still had the house, she could have been saved,” a bitter Shaikh told The Indian Express.

Sharing her predicament are at least 60 other families desperately trying to hold on to land that was their home for decades. Thirty-year-old Ganesh Kudumallu, who claims he was born in the house he was living in until it was demolished last month, said, “My mother, 85, came to this area when she was seven. We have pictures and documents to prove that we have been here for at least 50 years. All of a sudden, MbPT officials are forcing us out. We have nowhere else to go.”
Kudumallu, like the other

families, has been holding on to the remains of their homes, continuing to occupy the area that’s now filled with debris and cluttered with the residents’ belongings. “We have begged and pleaded with them to let us remain or give us another space to move to. But everyone we go to sends us to someone else,” he said.

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) does not cover slumdwellers who live on central government lands including MbPT lands. Aravind Unni, an architect and planner with NGO Yuva, said, “There are about 1.5 lakh people who live in slums on 7.46 hectares of MbPT lands in Mumbai alone. Unlike other slums, however, these people are not entitled to accommodation since the SRA scheme does not include people who live on central government lands.”

Unni pointed out that the MbPT does not have responsibilities of rehabilitating people. Ravi Parmar, chairman of MbPT, stated that the demolition was carried out as per law. “The demolition was carried out after following the due course of law. We aren’t removing all encroachments in a blanket manner and the process has been on for a year. It is being done selectively following the decree for that,” he said.

Kudumallu says that he believes the MbPT would build a parking lot on the vacated land, located a few metres from the southern end of the Eastern Freeway. For now, the families are biding their time and surviving on borrowed money since none of the male members have gone to work since the demolition was carried out on November 18.

“How can we go and leave the women and children behind to deal with this situation? They ask us to shift our belongings from time to time and we are cooperating. If the men go to work, they will surely force the women out,” said Kudumallu.

Residents say that they are struggling to survive, between trying to find some privacy and keeping the little children from running on to the main road. “It is very chilly in the night since we live so close to the sea. Without any roof, the women and children have been badly affected as they have a hard time taking a bath or changing clothes. The MbPT guards have been harassing us on a daily basis by breaking any temporary structures we put up,” said Kudumallu.
“They treat us like animals. We have now started taking a bath at night a few times in a week,” said Shaikh.

Meanwhile, SRA CEO Aseem Gupta said that the agency intends to write to all central government authorities seeking permission to conduct a survey of slumdwellers on their lands.

“After the Assembly session in Nagpur, we will ask for their approval to include people living on central government lands in the survey. We hope to have their details as well for the survey and subsequently provide housing for them,” said Gupta.