Mumbai: The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that it will allot 90 acres of land from a total of 190 acres at Marol-Maroshi in western suburbs to rehabilitate eligible slum dwellers inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). The state also informed that it will initiate the bidding process for constructing rehabilitation tenements before December 1 this year.
The details were given on Wednesday during the hearing in a petition by Samyak Janhit Seva Sanstha, a society of slum dwellers inside the SGNP, which sought their rehabilitation as per earlier HC orders. In 1997 and 1999, the HC, on a PIL by Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG), directed the state to clear encroachment from SGNP and rehabilitate eligible slum dwellers.
State Advocate General Birendra Saraf informed a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar that “substantial progress” was made, since the last court hearing on September 23, for removing the encroachment and also rehabilitating the eligible encroachers from SGNP.
An affidavit was filed by chief conservator of forest and director of SGNP G Mallikarjuna stating that a meeting was held on October 3 by the High Powered Committee (HPC)
wherein several decisions were taken with regard to rehabilitation of eligible 299 tenements and also to “conduct a thorough inquiry into the delay in constructing Phase-II tenements by M/s DB Realty”.
The affidavit emphasised that MHADA will initiate the bidding process for the construction project on 90 acres of land at Marol-Maroshi before December 1. MHADA’s Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer have been tasked with ensuring that the said process begins on time.
“We, thus, direct that the decision taken in the meeting dated 3rd October 2024 under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary of the State of Maharashtra shall be implemented in its letter and spirit,” the bench noted. It reminded those involved with the task that the quantified contribution of SGNP to Mumbai was more than the BMC’s annual budget.
The court has also directed the state to file an affidavit indicating the steps taken during this period for implementing the decision taken in the October 3 meeting.
The HC has kept the matter for hearing on December 16.
The bench expressed that the rehabilitation work would be implemented as per the schedule without any delay. “At this juncture, we may only express our hope and trust that the decision taken in the meetings dated 30th September 2024 and 3rd October 2024 shall be implemented with strict timelines,” the bench added.
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In 1997, HC directed authorities to disconnect basic amenities like water, electricity and transport to the settlements and they were directed to remove the settlements and ensure that there were no further encroachments.
Later in 1999, HC directed the authorities to relocate the slum dwellers, who had structures prior to January 1, 1995, to Kalyan. Around 33,000 people were found to be eligible for relocation and 20,000 unauthorised structures were demolished. The court had directed eligible families to pay Rs7,000 as relocation expenses to the state and a monitoring committee was appointed to oversee the process.
Around 11,380 slum dwellers who paid the fee had been relocated to Chandivali till 2014. However, another 16,929 families who had paid the fee and 4,691 who did not pay awaited rehabilitation, the petition said.