Explosive Diwali for park squatters

MUMBAI, November 3: As soon as the Diwali festivities subside next week, the state government has its own firecracker in store for 37,500...

MUMBAI, November 3: As soon as the Diwali festivities subside next week, the state government has its own firecracker in store for 37,500 encroachers in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Promising to make the season a particularly explosive and extended affair, the state government is poised to serve eviction notices to these squatters, who have over the years managed to both push the bulldozers back as well as resist attempts to relocate them on numerous occasions.

However, now armed with the May 7 judgement of the Bombay High Court, the Forest Department will serve notices to 37,500 hutments whose occupants have been deemed as illegal encroachers8217; squatting on over 300 acres in the Malad and Kandivli boundaries of the park.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting between state Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar and officials of the Forest Department on Saturday, after an offer to relocate 33,000 legal encroachers8217; drew a response from just 464 households. With the deadline to apply for relocationexpiring on October 29, the government has been left with no alternative but to drag the bulldozers in, state government officials say.

8220;The government will demolish the encroachments and recover the forest land as per the directives of the Bombay High Court,8221; Bongirwar told Express Newsline. Anticipating fierce resistance, as has happened on several previous occasions, the Forest Department has requisitioned a batallion of the State Reserve Police SRP as well as police protection.

Deputy Conservator of Forests, A R Bharti told Express Newsline: 8220;We shall begin the demolitions immediately after Diwali.8221; Adds Bongirwar: 8220;Being a sensitive issue, we have already briefed the new chief minister about the demolition plan.8221;

In its May 7 judgement, on a petition filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group in 1995, the Bombay High Court had directed that the park8217;s legal encroachers8217; acirc;euro;ldquo; those whose names figured on the voters8217; list as of January 1, 1995 acirc;euro;ldquo; should be relocated. If they do notopt for relocation within the stipulated period, their hutments should be demolished, the court had said.

Accordingly, 33,000 households were deemed as legal encroachers8217; and 4,000 as illegal8217; 23,000 illegal hutments had already been razed in September 1997. Over the last two years, the number of illegal squatters has swelled to 5,000.

Story continues below this ad

Following the high court judgement, the Forest Department issued its first notice on July 17, 1999, asking legal encroachers to pay the first installment of Rs 1,000 of the total Rs 7,000 security deposit for relocation to be paid in four instalments by August 30.

Bharti says only 464 households responded. Even of these, 211 failed to pay the second installment by the October 29 deadline, which made the rest ineligible for relocation.8221; This has therefore made approximately 32,500 hutments in addition to the 5,000 illegal ones qualify for demolition.

The issue of encroachments in the park has always been both sensitive and explosive, with state-level politiciansas well as local leaders repeatedly promising umbrella protection. Votebank politics have therefore always served to buttress the encroachers8217; instinctive resistance to shifting, stonewalling every attempt to evict them from the park.

In fact, the poor response to the relocation offer by the state government stems from the area proposed to rehouse the squatters. A cluster of five villages in Kalyan were recently identified but the encroachers felt this was too far from their present location. Remarks Bharti: 8220;Under the influence of political parties, we have received more than 27,000 letters for not removing the encroachers from the forest land.8221;

Story continues below this ad

However, state government officials say they feel emboldened now that the court, while delivering its judgement on May 7, has kept the petition pending to monitor implementation of its order.

Meanwhile, preparations to construct boundary walls around the park as soon as the encroachers are evicted are already underway. As per the court8217;s directive, two wallsextending 22 km will be built, from Malad to Kandivali on the western side of t he park and Bhandup complex to Manpada in Thane on the east.