While the monsoons are at the doorsteps of Mumbai, the residents of Netajinagar are out looking for another place to live. Shirish Khare writes on the heartless police action perpetrated by the state on slum dwellers.

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On the morning of 29^th May, about 250 shelters were destroyed in this small slum near Eastern Express Highway. This action by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation left about 2000 poor homeless. Numerous women were also hurt during police action associated with this effort.  The police also arrested 17 people (including 10 women) who were protecting themselves from their violence. Before the rains come, it is such heartless government action that does what it wants and has affected the lives of the poor in Mumbai.

Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan has requested the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission to investigate the human rights violations during this police action.

29^th May – A date that residents of Netaji nagar will always remember. Before residents of this slum may have had a chance to have their morning tea, the government attacked this neighborhood with bulldozers. This was a well planned, sudden and quick operation – over before anyone knew what was happening. In moment’s notice numerous houses had been razed to the ground – the government had clearly planned how it would turn this small community into a flat ground. Thus, police were at hand, setting fire to houses as soon as they were razed. This has been documented on video by residents of the nearby Prem Sagar Society – documentation that can be presented as key evidence to the planned and violence of this effort.

By noon that day, the whole community had been razed. The elderly and the children were now on the streets. Women had been arrested and put behind bars at Pantnagar police station – hungry since morning. Dogribai – badly injured by the lathi charge – had been taken by some women to Rajavadi hospoital in Ghatkopar. But the police came and arrested Dogribai as well as many of those women. In the absence of medical care, Dogribai’s health deteriorated even further.

As dusk fell, hungry, thirsty, wounded groups started looking for their possessions under the razed remnants of their homes. There was some hope that perhaps some food or other possessions lay under the debris – but the police action had destroyed all their belongings. With rains imminent, these poor needed to arrange for shelter, for food and for a stove to cook their food.

The monsoons in India start in Mumbai. However, the poor in Mumbai have been washed away by the floods of violence perpetrated by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation and the Maharashtra Government Human Development Department. The Maharashtra government law says that people who lived in a house or shelter before 1.1.1995 would be considered legal residents. Yet, numerous such people lost their homes in the police action in Netaji Nagar.

Clouds of Terror

The slums of Netaji Nagar are next to a drain and near Mithi River. It is a key land area within the city – very expensive and of interest to numerous builders. Powerful builders would like to grab about 60 acres of land near that slum. These interests have joined together along with the administration to destroy such slums. In fact, the administration was so eager to demolish the slum that it gave no notice – it even ensured that there was as much loss and damage to the occupants as it could perpetrate. The government could have been more humane, could have given notice and allowed the residents to remove possessions – but it began the drive with planned police action.

The residents of this slum were legal voters. They have the right to live here. They should have the right to access to infrastructure and utilities available to citizens of Mumbai. Police cannot act violently without provocation – and yet this is what happened. Residents of the slum tried to protect their belongings – as is natural and as it should be. They were beaten up for this act.

Simpreet Singh of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan  has requested the state Human Rights commission  that “ This action should be investigated according to the slum act and other laws. Those who were injured by police action should be treated and those who had damage to their property should be compensated. Police officials who perpetrated this violence should be held accountable”.

Update

There is a concerted effort in Mumbai to clear slums and remove poor residents. Increasingly, the land in Mumbai is being targeted by builders – they are often acquired at subsidized prices with help of the administration and then sold to people at high profits. Even during recession, land prices continue to hold. No wonder, the government is more interested in providing loans to land sharks than supporting easier loans for dying farmers.

Thirty thousand acres of land in Mumbai has been privatized. This is despite ceiling laws. In 1986, the state government had passed an act that other land would be used to build affordable housing and that more than 500square meter of land would be allotted only if 80 square meter was used in this fashion. However, that has not been followed by the government. While the builders of Hiranandani were allotted land at 40 paise per acers, they build flats on 300 acres of land that cost at least 5 crores.  The “Switzerland” of India is being built by illegally displacing the poor.

Shirish Khare works with the Media Division of Child Rights and You and can be contacted at Shirish2410@gmail.com