The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday demolished 11 houses in Jawahar Nagar,Khar. The civic body plans to demolish 72 houses in the two-day drive till Friday. Over 100 residents staged a protest and pelted stones during the demolition drive. Some of them were detained by the police. We tried to stop the demolition as we were not given enough time to respond to the eviction notice. Monsoon is approaching,where will we go if they demolish our houses? Since we have not accepted the money to shift out of here,we will not move, said a resident. According to R Rokade,Deputy Collector (encroachments removal),The demolition has been carried out as per the High Court order of September 2010,asking residents to evict the slums. The residents,who had not given their consent for the SRA scheme were accordingly served notices under Section 33/38 of the Maharahstra Slum Act. We were given the eviction notice on Wednesday night. We did not get enough time to react to it, said Shakuntala Tiwari,whose house was demolished. An estimated 20,000 families have been living in 46 societies of the Golibar area of which many have been protesting against the builder,Shivalik Ventures,for various reasons. So far,148 houses have been demolished of the total 323 houses in Ganeshkripa Society. Many families in various societies in the Golibar area have been protesting against Shivalik Ventures,who in a joint venture with Madhu Constructions has taken over redevelopment project.
