NEW DELHI: The morning of June 30, 2015 brought devastation for the people of the Mandala slum in Mumbai as bulldozers moved in to destroy their dwellings.

The residents of the slum had been staging a peaceful protest, a Ghar Haq Satyagraha since the last one month demanding their right to shelter. Instead of sympathetically processing their request, the authorities demolished the slums and moved in the police to arrest the protestors.

Uncertainty has continued to plague the slum dwellers since June 2004 when the then state government destroyed the jhuggis that rendered about 3000 families homeless.

The people of Mandala constructed their small tenements again on the same land but in 2006 there was a second demolition drive by the state government that tagged them ‘encroachers.’. The authorities went on to arrest several women and men arbitrarily. Despite the almost decade long struggle for their right to shelter, this fresh demolition has clearly brought the situation back to a desperate status quo for the slum dwellers.

“Both the state government and the government at the center have failed to fulfill their promises made to the citizens through their manifesto. The government has made false promises and the people have continued to suffer”, Medha Patkar told The Citizen. She leads the Ghar Bachao Ghar banao Andolan along with other activists.

Women protesting against the demolition are picked up by the police

The BJP led government at the center launched three extravagant flagship programs in May 2015 in a bid to urbanize the Indian landscape.The government is expected to spend about Rs four trillion on these programs. The Housing for All scheme,however, does not seem to have a place in it for the poor of Mumbai, a city that houses some of the largest slums in the country.

“The recently launched scheme doesn’t make clear demarcations as it lacks a community approach. The new scheme basically provides loan at 6.5% on the amount of 1 lakh to 2.5 lakhs which is again unaffordable for the slum dwellers as neither they can bear the brunt of indebtedness nor build their houses with such a meager amount”, Patkar said.

Mumbai is one city that witnesses a massive influx of people from across the country and 54% of its total population comprises slum dwellers with access to just over 9% of the total land. Another 25%-30% reside in chawls and footpaths. Dharavi happens to be the biggest slum in Mumbai and is also the second largest slum in Asia with about one million people residing on a tract of one square mile.

Another shocking fact about India’s financial capital is that 67% of its population works in the informal sector. “These people help build all these infrastructural projects and contribute significantly to the economy but unfortunately they don’t have a place to live in”, Patkar asserted.

The residents of Mandala have on repeated occasions communicated their problems to the state, the chief minister and the collector and local authorities as well. However, even after innumerable assurances the government has failed to provide any respite to the inhabitants of this slum. The land that was acquired after the first demolition in the year 2005 has remained vacant since then.

“Even the new policies of the government would be beneficial to the investors and builders who have been handed over almost half of the total land. On June 30, initially the police was reluctant to carry out the demolition but suddenly they did, maybe they got the green signal from the Prime Minister’s office”, Patkar said.

The residents have stayed in dialogue with the government and they have been assured houses under various schemes such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Rajiv Awaas Yojana that was abolished by the current government recently. “The Shiv Sena led government that had promised 40,0000 houses also failed. The state government has been incapable at providing basic necessities to the people who need these badly”, says Patkar.

The demolition in Mandala is not the only one carried out by the government but places like Malvani, Malad, Adarsh nagar, and Govandi have also witnessed similar demolitions. The government instead of providing the slum dwellers with accommodation has been further exacerbating their conditions.

Activist Medha Patkar has been one of the most strident voices to have led this movement demanding the right to shelter for the slum dwellers. “These slum dwellers are asserting their right to shelter under UN Conventions and these demolitions are absolutely unjustified”, she said.

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