Mumbai : The MCGM on Wednesday forcefully evicted the residents of the century-old Bombay Improvement Trust chawls in Tadwadi, Mazgaon: they had been served an eviction notice by the civic officials.
The tenants of the chawl were in a tizzy; they protested and asserted that they will not move to the earmarked rehabilitation homes 20 kilometres away in Mahul.
The civic officials along with an entourage of 400 policemen from the Byculla police station entered the municipal-owned BIT chawls and sealed the ground floor flats of buildings no 14, 15, and 16. Even though these buildings had been declared as dilapidated, the residents had refused to relocate to far-away Mahul.
Jasu Bariya, a resident of the chawl, said, “The officials forcefully entered our homes and started removing all our belongings. A lot of important files and papers from my house are now missing. The civic chief has paid no heed to our misery.’’ The MCGM officials present at the spot said that they were just following the Supreme Court’s order.
In May, the MCGM had issued a notice declaring three buildings of the BIT chawls as dangerous and ordered that they be evacuated as soon as possible. The residents are not only opposed to the rehabilitation homes but have also alleged that the builder had previously promised them an area of 350 sq ft but the sanctioned area is just 220 sq ft. Unable to seek any clarification from the MCGM and the builder on this, they have pointed out further violations.
The residents have alleged that the civic body has not provided them with any kind of assurance as to how long it will take them to redevelop the building and when can they get back to their houses. Speaking to the Free Press Journal, Havisha Irani, a social activist from HumFan Trust, said, “The Corporation has not provided us with any written proof about the floor plan or how much area will be given and by what time will the building be completed. The corporation is being insensitive towards the needs of the residents.”
Kishor Desai, Assistant Commissioner of ‘E’ Ward, however, said, “We are simply following the court’s order. We want the residents to cooperate with us as the dilapidated buildings are not inhabitable.” “The evacuation process that we started today will be completed by next week” he added. Building number 12 was demolished 10 years ago and 80 families were shifted to a transit camp, which is in a bad shape today.
Even as SC says no to demolitions in Digha
NEW DELHI: But even as the Bombay Improvement Trust chawls were being evicted on Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked the Maharashtra government not to carry out demolition of illegal buildings or take any coercive action against residents at a village in Navi Mumbai while the monsoon season lasts till July 31. A vacation bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and L Nageswara Rao also gave its nod to the state government to come out with a policy for regularizing the structures in the Digha village.
The residents of the village had challenged the Bombay High Court order of last year in which the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (CIDCO) were directed to initiate the process of demolition of 99 buildings illegally constructed in the village.
