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'Who' is an encroacher?'
Deepika D'Souza



SINCE November 2004, Mumbai has witnessed the most brutal and violent large scale demolitions ever seen. The demolition drive came soon after the Congress-NCP combine came into power--- On the basis of a promise to regularise slums that came up before 2000.
During the elections, politicians needed the votes of these very same slums dwellers, so-at that time-they were legitimate citizens. After the elections, however, they became encroachers, pick-pockets and thieves who were living off the fat of the land.
In reality, the whole concept of an encroacher is a myth created by our policy makers. This myth has been foisted on ordinary citizens for so long it has now become a reality.

MYTH 1: Mumbai is fast becoming slumbay
According to the Afzalpurkar Report of 1995, of the total land area of 43,000 hectares only 2,525 hectares of land is occupied by slums - which is 6 per cent of the total land area. Even if one assumes a lO per cent increase in the population of slums, the present land occupied by slums will not be more than 8 per cent.
So much for a slumbay.

MYTH 2: Lack of funds
The Department of Housing and Special Assistance was established in 1980, with a mandate to provide housing schemes to the common man and ways to improve and repair slums. Its over all share was a mere 0.87 per cent of the national budget, Rs 782.36 crore (Courtesy:Centre for Budget Studies 2002). Yet the Ninth five-year plan (1997-2002) estimated that more than 61 per cent of that budget remained unutilised. (Centre for Budget Studies 2002-2003). On the other hand, according to various newspaper articles, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent over Rs. 84 crore in this year's demolition drive. The question is, if the' BMC can spend Rs. 84 crore for demolitions, would it not be better to use the money for rehabilitation instead? If there is a budget for housing the' poor, why was it not used? How can the chief minister claim that there is not enough money for rehabilitation?

MYTH 3: Lack of infrastructure
The common thread running through all the debates regarding the demolition drive is lack of infrastructure. If that were true, how are building permissions being granted all over the city for large 40-storeyed towers? Where is the water, the space and pipes for sewerage to cope with this massive increase? If the city has reached its carrying capacity, how can the government justify the large-scale building boom that caters only to the upper middle class? Moreover, if one really looks at the question of infrastructure, people living in slums use almost no infrastructure. According to a recent survey conducted by
YUVA, only 5.26 per cent of slum dwellers had access to individual water taps and 62 per cent use public or shared toilets.

MYTH 4: People prefer to live in slums
As per the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's Regional Plan (19962011), there is a need for 85,000 housing units. Even with the current supply of housing, there is a deficit of 45,000 housing units. Due to this shortage of housing facilities, shelter requirements of 53 per cent of the poorer 45,000 families are satisfied through the informal sector-the informal sector being slums.

This brings me back to my original question who is an encroacher? If the principle planning agency itself states that there is a shortage of housing, then it is the law and policy makers themselves who make these people encroachers. In the absence of an overarching housing policy that caters to the needs of all sections of society, the government-since 1976-has used the principle of 'cutoff dates' to make some people legal and justify demolishing the homes of others.
As long as the rich and powerful have a hold on the government, and as long as one follows a development pattern that forces people to migrate due to poverty from rural to urban areas, we will continue to create slums which neither demolitions nor cut-off dates are going to solve.

Deepika D'Souza is executive director at the Indian Centre for Human Rights and Law in Mumbai

 

Notice for eviction /demolition

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