Excerpt from The South Asian ("New Strategy: Let's Burn Slums," 21/5/06)A brutal demolition drive was undertaken in which local authorities have destroyed 5,000 houses in Mandala, Mankurd in Mumbai, and set fire to an entire slum on 9 May 2006.
A police force of 500-700 along with Mumbai Collectorate officials and 6-7 bulldozers demolished about 5,000 houses in the slum communities of Indira Nagar and Janata Nagar in Mandala, near Mankurd in Mumbai. The police came to the site around noon and were confronted by women and men. All of a sudden, people saw smoke rising from the back of the site and rushed there to quell the fire. Meanwhile, the police easily gained entry into the slum and demolished most of the houses and burned the rest, wiping out the entire community.
The fire continued burning for several hours, while fire brigade personnel looked on passively, doing nothing to extinguish the fire. Furthermore, the police engaged in a massive brutal "lathi charge" (assault with batons) in Mandala, beating and dragging residents from the demolished site, and destroying their personal belongings.
Police officials also put water in the food being cooked in the community kitchen and confiscated grain stores. The police assault badly injured three people, who then were admitted to the Satabti Hospital. One of them remains in hospital. Shamin Banu suffered a miscarriage after women police hit her in the stomach. She is recovering in the Sion Hospital, having suffered severe bleeding lost consciousness after being beaten. In all, forty persons received injuries during the demolition and fire.
The police, however, ordered the nearby government hospitals, including Satabti Hospital, not to admit anyone from the slum and not to give the injured persons any medical records, as those documents might be used as proof of injury due to police violence...
Mumbai Collectorate gave the residents of Indira Nagar only a 12-hour notice of the demolition. Those evictees living in Janata Nagar had no prior information of the demolition and were taken completely unawares...
The authorities have still not provided any resettlement options to the evicted. Police officials are also patrolling in nearby slums and threatening people not to give food or shelter to the evicted people. Instances of abuse by intoxicated policemen at night have also been reported.
It is being reported that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to resettle people whose houses were demolished as part of the Mithi River Development plan in Mandala. This attempt would pit the poor and displaced against one another. The demolition is completely illegal, as the government clearly has stated in its affidavit to the High Court that Mandala is reserved for people whose homes were demolished during the 2004-2005 slum-clearance drive.
It is noteworthy that illegal construction worth crores of Rupees consisting of malls, shopping complexes and homes are not being demolished despite court orders with CMs and the national cabinet finding excuses to stop such drives. Is the law of a different kind for the poor?
This note was put together from reviews by Evictionwatch, the Housing and Land Rights Network of Habitat International Coalition and YUVA.
