Nashik: VBA Protests Demolition Of 20 Slum Clusters Under Smart City Project

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) on Monday staged a protest against the demolition drive to remove around 20 slum clusters, including Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharth Nagar, Milind Nagar, Fernandes , Wadi and Amrapali Nagar, under the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC)’s Smart City project.

The agitators gathered at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan of NMC, raised slogans against the administration submitted a memorandum of demands. VBA leaders alleged that the action was unjust and targeted poor and marginalised communities.

Half-century-old settlement

VBA’s Nashik (West) district president, Chetan Gangurde, said, “Sant Kabir Nagar has existed since 1972 on survey numbers 22 and 25 of Anandvalli village. After the NMC was set up in 1982, the civic body started levying water and property taxes on the houses. Electricity was supplied between 1994 and 1996, while a community hall was constructed in 1998 during the tenure of former mayor Prakash Mate.”

Over the years, NMC funds were used for roads, drainage repairs, and public toilets in the locality, Gangurde said. “Despite this history, the administration is now treating the settlement as an encroachment under the Smart City project,” he added.

The VBA cited the precedent of Satpur village, where encroachments were regularised between 2002 and 2005 by order of the district collector and property cards issued to residents. They demanded that the same policy be applied to Sant Kabir Nagar.

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Fear among residents

VBA leaders alleged that repeated notices by the NMC have created panic among residents. “This settlement is not an encroachment. The residents are paying taxes and water bills regularly. It is their fundamental right to secure housing,” said a VBA leader.

Appeal to civic body

The VBA urged the civic commissioner to recognise these colonies as legal slums and extend basic amenities. “If Satpur encroachments were regularised, then Sant Kabir Nagar and others should also be brought under the same provisions,” the memorandum said.

Residents’ demands

The VBA placed the following demands before the civic commissioner: 

Immediate halt to demolition drives under the Smart City project. 

Formal declaration of Sant Kabir Nagar and other clusters as slums. 

Permission to residents to build pucca houses on existing land. 

Imposition of regular house tax instead of cancellation notices. 

Inclusion of these settlements in the 7/12 land records.