Time stands still at Marve colony

Well educated and commuting to the metropolis for work by day, they return to their pucca homes at night, where the fans don’t whirr for want of electricity and children pour over their books in candlelight. Dust coated switchboards and their empty sockets have long since tired of waiting to be fed with power.

Water trickles into the locality between 11 pm and 5 am, via two pipes with just six taps, forcing the women to tread over muddy paths to collect the day’s ration in torchlight.

Hailing from the lower-middle class, residents explain the quirks of fate which have brought them to this juncture, where time stands still as the rest ofMumbai propels itself into the the 21st century. Now their very existence is threatened as India Farmers Private Ltd (IFPL), a private company owned by Navinchandra Majithia of the Majithia Foundation, is allegedly trying to bundle them out.

The company, armed with permissions from the BMC, claims the land is theirs though the lease it was given 43 years ago is still under dispute. The IFPL in 1997 constructed an eight-foot-high, two-foot-thick wall around the enclave, which is submerged in the backwaters during the high tide.

“I have been staying here since 40 years, but have never had the luxury of an electric light or fan. We operate the TV on car batteries. During the monsoon, the roads get waterlogged waist-high and the children miss schools for over three months,” says Prema Gomes, a resident working as a telephone operator at Hinduja Hospital.

“But trouble really began last year, when the company, in alleged connivance with the BMC , started harassing us saying we were encroaching on its land.We have been paying property tax since 1966, so the question of encroachment does not arise,” she says.

Persistent efforts made the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply undertaking (BSES) consider providing connections, but the plans were allegedly stalled by the IFL. S V Bendre, BSES deputy manager (technical), had written to the collector on November 11, 1996, expressing his inability to provide connections in view of the company’s objections.

Ironically, the BMC `P’ north ward office admits that the locality falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) as well as the No-Development Zone of the BMC, and permissions for any construction cannot be given.

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests has banned construction in the area, and hence all prior permissions for construction on the said land are deemed to be cancelled,” an executive engineer of the BMC wrote in a letter to the residents dated August 7, 1997.

However, Majithia denied the allegations. “There are some slumlords who are trying toencroach upon my land, but I will not yield to their tactics. I have already entered into a collaboration with a US-based firm to construct a hospital on the spot,” he told Express Newsline.

But the problem dates back four decades and has meandered through a maze of litigation. The matter currently rests in a cul-de-sac somewhere in the state’s Revenue Department

The land, about 114 acres, was leased to IFPL in 1956 for 999 years by the then governor. Meant for agricultural purposes, the firm was bound to reclaim and keep the land fit for agricultural use. However, the status quo was maintained and in 1993, the collector revoked the lease, citing breach of the agreement.

The matter went to the Bombay High Court which ruled in 1997 that the state government first clarify its position before it delivered a verdict.

“Inspections carried out by the Revenue Department revealed that reclamation of the land was not being duly done. There is also evidence that the lessee was also contemplatingnon-agricultural use of the land,” the order said, directing the tehsildar to take possession of the land.However, Majithia maintains that the agreement was a reclamation lease and the company could use the land for any purpose. “But in any case, the land is only being used for agricultural purposes. The compound wall was constructed only to prevent encroachment. The residents’ claim that the matter is pending with the government is also bogus,” he said.

“The government has allowed the construction of so many structures in the area. My land is separated from the sea by these localities, the Marve Road, the INS Hamla quarters and a college. If so many structures can come up in the area, how does a compound wall violate the CRZ and other laws,” he asks But the residents are not listening. With nowhere else to go, holding on to their homes is all that matters. The luxuries of the 21st century can wait.