Rehabilitation "slips" on politics

She is not alone. Hundreds of families for whom Ambedkar Nagar slums, Cuffe Parade, was home before demolition squad came knocking, believe that two local Congress leaders – MLA Ashok Dhatrak and Youth Congress taluka chief, Dinesh Mishra – and not the District Collectorate, are in charge of their rehabilitation.

They can’t be blamed, though. With the district officials not there to helpthem, they have no option but to follow the directions of local politicians and their cronies. So, when these non-descript slips were distributed, they were grabbed by the slumdwellers. Though the Congress leaders insist the slips were distributed only to help officials identify the bonafide residents, their men who distributed them were obviously directed to convey a different message.

And anyway, the situation here is so confusing that you can’t blame the poor, illiterate slumdwellers for wanting to keep their options open. Janabai, for instance, has all her papers right – the ration card, electricity bill and her photo identity card. But she still has preserved the small chit, just in case.

Mumbai Collector, Sanjay Chahande, admits rehabilitation has "gone out of control. I have received several complaints of local politicians and slumlords interfering in the work of allotment of the plots." The rehabilitation exercise had started out well.

Soon after the demolitions a survey was conducted by thecollectorate. It revealed there were 1,056 families staying in the Ambedkar Nagar slums. To facilitate their smooth rehabilitation, they were divided into three groups. Group A included families that had photopasses, ration cards and voters’ identity cards issued before the SRD cut off date of January 1, 1995. Group B comprised residents who had ration cards issued in 1996-97, while Group C consisted of the families that had moved in only recently.

"There were 200 odd residents in Group A. We have seen to it that they are all given the plots. Even those who did not have any proof of residence before 1995 have been allotted plots on humanitarian grounds," said Chahande. However, he added that allotment letters have been issued to only 95. What happened to the rest? Nobody knows.

Now, Chahande has ordered another survey. "We will match the new list with the old. Action will be taken against all those whose names did not appear in the first survey list, but have yet made claims," he said. But what’s theguarantee the local politicians and their goons will not push their own interests the second time too.

For, there are allegations that goons have grabbed several of the plots marked for rehabilitation in an open space close to the area where the slums once stood. They have even allotted plots on their own. So, while people from as far as Latur and Osmanabad have got plots, bonafide Ambedkar Nagar residents have been denied their right.

"We have been staying here since 1990, and all our papers are in order. But we haven’t been given a plot," says 65-year-old Chandrabhaga showing her ration card issued in 1990 and a voters’ identity card issued in 1995. Some people who tried to put up tents on the plots were threatened.

NGOs have lodged complaints against the Congress leaders, and Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti has also written to the Collector and Commissioner of Police.

Slumdweller’s body found

The fierce infighting among various factions of slumlords who are trying to push in their own peopleto occupy plots reserved for rehabilitation of the slumdwellers has created terror among Ambedkar Nagar residents. They fear that one Anish Kumar Kunjal, an electrician from Kerala, whose body was found outside Colaba Woods garden this morning, was actually murdered by one of the rival factions. Though Kunjal had all the relevant papers, including the collector’s letter regarding allotment of a plot, like many other authorised residents, he did not actually get its possession. He was forced to settle on a vacant plot belonging to Ashok Salvi’s committee. Last night, Kunjal was taken by an unknown person for some work. His body was found in the wee hours of the morning today near Colaba Woods.