Rendered homeless after Govandi demolition drive, residents plan to hold 7-day protest

However, the residents are now gearing up to stage a seven-day protest at the site of the demolition.

According to residents, the demolition was undertaken without any prior warnings — barring one notice which was issued in October 2023.

Jan Haq Sangharsh Samiti (JHSS), a collective of activists, said this notice was neither on a proper BMC letterhead nor had any signatures.

“We had protested against this notice, last year, after which they had refrained. Last year, the SRA had even carried out a survey of the area. We are also demanding the BMC to provide us with details and documents of this survey,” a member of the collective said.

According to locals and activists, Panchsheel Nagar slums — located in Tata Nagar — was home to nearly 200 structures with Dalits, Buddhists and Muslims making up for most of the inhabitants.

Speaking to The Indian Express, BMC officials said that orders had been issued to carry out the demolition drive as the civic body is slated to establish a hostel in the parcel.

“A lot of unauthorised structures had been built on this BMC-owned plot. We have already carried out several demolition drives here in the past but the unauthorised structures keep emerging again and again,” an official said on Tuesday.

Officials from the M/East ward, however, did not respond to queries Thursday.

Meanwhile, gathered outside the M/East ward office, dwellers of the area demanded the civic body to stop the demolition, restore the electricity and water supply on humanitarian grounds etc.

Vandana Sonawane, daughter of a resident Shantabai, said, ‘My mother has been recently diagnosed with TB and she was admitted at the hospital when the BMC demolished her home. When I found out about the drive, I came rushing from my husband’s home. I begged the police and other officials to spare my mother’s home but they did not listen.”

Like her, many locals alleged that the drive was carried out when old and young children were home, while most of the youth were away at work.

The civic body initially bulldozed the newly established structures, before making their way to the older sheds.

Rummaging through the debris, in a belated attempt to salvage her belongings, Madhu (60) said, “My husband and I have been living here since 2002. When they arrived, I refused to leave my house but the police officials pulled me out and demolished everything. We have lost everything.”

Several dwellers also alleged that a lot of their belongings including utensils, cots, sarees etc. — which were buried within the debris — had been stolen by miscreants over the past two nights.