Mumbai: Mulund Residents To Start Indefinite Hunger Strike Against Dharavi Rehabilitation Project From March 7

Mulundkars will start an indefinite hunger strike against BMC’s PAP project and Dharavi rehabilitation project from March 7. The residents have decided to join the relay fasting with 50 people sitting for hunger strike daily. In a public meeting organised on Saturday, the residents of Mulund have decided to intensify their protest against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Project Affected Persons (PAP) proposal and Dharavi redevelopment project by going on an indefinite relay fasting. One of the main agitators, Sagar Devre asked people to participate in the hunger strike at the public meeting organised by him.

This comes after the Bombay High Court refused to grant interim relief to a PIL seeking cancellation of the BMC scheme for procuring project-affected persons (PAPs) tenements alleging several irregularities. The petitioners are also planning on taking up the issue with the Supreme Court and will also continue their protests.

Chain fasting

Sagar Devre, petitioner and resident of Mulund, said, “Mulundkars will join chain fasting from Thrusday in front of the project site which is near Keller College. We need to recognize the power of our votes and this time Mulundkars will vote only those who will get these projects cancelled.”

The public meeting that was called at the Sambhaji Raje Cultural Hall in Mulund East saw a huge participation from the residents of Mulund. The speakers called on the residents to use the occasion of parliamentary elections for restricting these projects.

'Work for our betterment'

Advocate Rajkumar Avasthi, one of the petitioners, said, “It’s the right time to ask our leaders to work for our betterment. We need to get a written affidavit, from the politicians who come to ask for our vote, that they will stop these projects. Only they will be allowed to compete the elections, who will oppose these projects.”

The BMC has decided to build 7,439 homes for project-affected people while the state housing department has asked to hand over 64 acres of land in Mulund East to develop a rental housing colony for four lakh residents of Dharavi. The residents of Mulund have been opposing these projects since December last year through and had also formed a human chain of silence last month to mark their protest.

Bharat Soni, Secretary of Hill Side Residents Association, said, “The high-rise buildings and utilities available on Mulund is according to the town planning but how can so many people be allowed to be shifted here when the Dharavi redevelopment has never been considered in the town planning. We have voted only one party to power at all the stages of government and still our political leaders are quiet about our ordeal. because it is Adani’s project.”