Residents of Indira Nagar, a slum in Bandra (East) located on the Tansa pipeline that is scheduled to be demolished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), have complained of discrepancies in households declared eligible for rehabilitation.
Of the 460 houses in the locality, residents of only 163 have been declared eligible for rehabilitation. Residents of the remaining 297 houses, however, claim that they possess all the documents to prove their eligibility.
A senior BMC official, however, rejected this saying that unlike in Garib Nagar, most of the houses in Indira Nagar are built on top of the pipeline and are hence completely illegal.
The contention over the eligibility status is because of two annexures issued by the BMC, with many Indira Nagar residents who were deemed eligible in the first declared illegal in the second.
“The second annexure is bogus,” said local corporator Haji Halim.
One such resident whose status was changed in the second annexure is Asha Hirwale. Her husband was born and raised in Indira Nagar. “I have been living here since I got married,” Ms. Hirwale said. Her in-laws’ home, however, has been declared as eligible, she said.
“I lived with my in-laws in the first few years of my marriage. After that, my husband and I moved out. I have been living in my current house for nearly three decades. Whenever asked to, we provided all the necessary documents to the BMC,” Ms. Hirwale said.
According to Mr. Halim, there are at least 70 such cases in Indira Nagar, and that he will raise the issue in the House if the BMC does not take steps to rectify this.
The BMC’s drive to clear encroachments along the pipeline is as per a 2009 Bombay High Court directive. In the H (East) Ward, the drive started at Garib Nagar in Bandra (East), where a fire broke out during the first day of demolition.
Many residents of Indira Nagar said they weren’t against the demolition, but said that eligible families must be rehabilitated.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the BMC demolished 70-80 illegal homes that had come up adjoining a drain in front of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority’s office over the last six months.
“The drain is the BMC’s responsibility. The encroachments had made it difficult for our workers to carry out maintenance work,” a BMC official said.
