Miloon Kothari, former UN Rapporteur on adequate housing, condemns unlawful evictions & lack of rehabilitation in Mumbai

Statement by Mr. Miloon Kothari, then UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, to the World Urban Forum III (June 2006, Vancouver, Canada):

"Since November 2004 an estimated 400,000 slum dwellers have been displaced from their homes in the city of Mumbai, India. In May 2004 governmental promises were made to regularize slums built in Mumbai, India before the year 2000. Notwithstanding, in November the same year, the Mumbai government initiated a massive housing demolition drive lasting for several months resulting in an estimated 92,000 homes being razed to the ground throughout the city. Moreover, the Mumbai government has embarked on a new urban renewal initiative known as "Operation Makeover", to free up public spaces for infrastructure projects including commercial and entertainment centres. As a result, Mumbai has witnessed an intensification of demolitions, accompanied by the use of force against residents, and without provision of any rehabilitation or alternative housing to any of the evicted. In early May 2006, 5,000 houses in the slum communities of Indira Nagar and Janata Nagar in Mandala, near Mankurd in Mumbai were demolished and the rest set on fire, in the presence of members of the police force and municipal official representatives, with no or inadequate prior eviction
notice. "

Full text: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EKOI-6QY52H?OpenDocument
Source: United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Date: 20 Jun 2006

TISS Report into the Demolition & Fire in Mandala, Mankhurd

Students at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai have published the following "Report of a Rapid Enquiry into the Demolition and Fire on the 9th May 2006 at Indiranagar and Jantanagar in Mandala, Mankhurd":

http://www.tiss.edu/Report123.pdf

"Starting in November 2004, the demolitions started in earnest. The government declared that under the leadership of Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil, a team led by Johny Joseph, Municipal Commissioner and Deputy Municipal Commissioner Mr. Kalam Patil initiated the demolitions. Within the first 18 days, over 39,000 homes were demolished. Among the first, was a large settlement with over 6,200 homes in Ambujawadi in Malad, a North West suburb of Mumbai. An estimated 90,000 homes were demolished in 44 areas."

From last year's (June 2005) Report on Forced Evictions and Housing Policies for the Poor in Mumbai, "Bulldozing Rights," prepared by the Independent People's Tribunal on Environment & Human Rights.

Full report is available at: www.iptindia.org/pdf/Bulldozing.pdf.

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.

post-demolition, Mandala

Mandala (Indiranagar) slum, Mankhurd, Mumbai [12 May 2006]

at the hands of mumbai police

Throughout the week, there have been numerous reports from Mandala of beatings with lathis (6-8 foot bamboo canes) at the hands of Mumbai police. Burns and related injuries have also been reported from the fire of 9 May. The effects of this devestation on the children of Mandala are well-documented. There are reports that those sustaining injuries have been purposely turned away from Shatabdi Hospital (Mumbai) by police and denied admission for treatment. It is confirmed that several burn victims from Mandala have also been systematically denied medical attention.

Mandala child with burns. He was denied treatment at

Shatabdi Hospital by police. [12 May 2006]

7-month-old baby in Mandala, injured while mother was being beaten by a police constable from behind.


On 12 May, there was a large morcha (demonstration) to the Shivaji Nagar police station (Mumbai) demanding an explanation for the human rights violations held during and after the demolition. The police in the Mankurd (at Govandi Road) stopped the morcha. Later, a delegation of community leaders and 13 affected people went to meet the Deputy Collector to report their grievances and seek redress. The DCP Mr. Ravindra Sengaokar denied a lathi charge. 10 persons including 3 women were arrested during the demolition, and afterward, were remanded to police custody until the 18th of May. They are facing charges for attempt to murder, rioting, illegal assembly, etc. About 45 complaints of atrocities were sent to the police on 12 May, challenging their denial of lathi charge.

(Source: Maju Varghese, Eviction Watch)

10 may @ mandala slum (indiranagar), mankhurd

Police at Mandala, Mankhurd (Mumbai) on 10 May 2006.








These images were taken at Mandala (Indiranagar) at Mankhurd, Mumbai, on the evening of 10 May, 2006, one day after the slum was set ablaze and there was a BMC-led demolition of the locality. At least 5,000 families have been displaced by the destruction. During our visit to Mandala on 10 May, displaced slumdwellers told us that they have not had access to food or water for two days. Most have lost everything (belongings, money, ration cards, proof of residence) in the fire and demolition.

There has been a heavy police presence at the Mandala slum since 9 May. The police have been using particularly aggressive tactics to remove residents from their homes, intimidate them and control the movement of people within and around the slum (basti). There were brutal police beatings of Mandala slumdwellers on both 9 May and 10 May. We have collected many, many complaints of injuries suffered at the hands of police, from women, men and children alike: accounts of bruising, bleeding, swelling, and open wounds are rampant. As the basti burned, police dragged several women by their hair; dismissed their pleas to go back or collect belongings; shouted and beat them with shoes and lathis (bamboo sticks). On the afternoon of 9 May, a 30-year-old pregnant woman was struck on the stomach by a police constable and lost consciousness; she suffered a miscarriage at Shatabdi Hospital and, a few hours later, was shifted to Sion Hospital due to the unavailability of blood and critical-care beds at Shatabdi. Yesterday, 12 May, a Mandala child died at Rajawadi Hospital of injuries related to a lathi beating.

After visiting local hospitals and speaking with residents of Indiranagar, it has become clear that the police are turning away Mandala victims at Shatabdi Hospital, and possibly others. Some have been given medicine at Shatabdi but denied medical care. Others have been told to leave. There seems to be a coordinated effort on the part of the police to prevent beating and burn victims from being admitted to the hospital.

Fire razes slums during BMC demolition drive

(Photo: Eviction Watch)

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 01:01:52 am
TIMES OF INDIA

MUMBAI: A fire razed a slum at Mandala in Mankhurd on Tuesday morning when the municipal authorities were conducting a demolition drive. Two girls and three women were rushed to the hospital with burn injuries.

Some of the slumdwellers alleged that the BMC had set the slum on fire to make the demolition work easier."The BMC and the police set our houses on fire by using our own stoves," claimed 18-year-old Naushad Khan.

"They first entered our houses and drove us all out with lathis. And then the slum caught fire. Even my ration shop was razed by the fire," said Mehrunissa Ansari.

Simpreet Singh, an activist of the National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM), said: "This is the first time such a tactic has been used in Mumbai. The civic authorities in Delhi regular burn down slums."

The BMC denied having a hand in the fire. "The slumdwellers set their own homes on fire. If we wanted to set the houses on fire why would we inform the fire brigade?" asked deputy municipal commissioner Kalam Patil.

Another BMC official said: "Initially, the slumdwellers blocked our way when we tried to enter the slum. After we managed to enter, they set their huts ablaze to prevent us from carrying out the demolition." The police too said the slumdwellers had set their homes on fire.

Sources said the fire brigade did little to douse the blaze even though 15 engines were pressed to service. However, the firemen said they did their best.

"The moment we douse the flames at one spot, they sprung up at another," said V H Naik, deputy chief fire officer of Byculla fire brigade.

Several women at the slum alleged that they were manhandled by the BMC officials. Sairunissa Sheikh complained that she was hit on her legs as she ran out of her house.

The BMC had put up a notice on the wall of a neighbouring construction on Monday night, saying that demolitions would begin the next day and that the slumdwellers should vacate the area by night.

Though the notice said that slums at only Indira Nagar would be demolished, the BMC razed the Janata Nagar slums as well.

"Chapter 1-B, clause 3-Z of the Maharashtra Slum Area Act states that it is illegal to demolish slums without a 24-hour notice," said Singh.

In an affidavit filed by the state government last year, the 50-acre slum at Mandala had been reserved for rehabilitating slumdwellers from the eastern suburbs who had lost their homes during last year's demolition drive.

Fifty families had already been allotted space to build their houses out of a list of 130. NAPM will move the court on Wednesday.

The survey of eligible slumdwellers is yet to be completed, even though the monsoon is just a month away, said activists. Meanwhile, 25 huts were also razed in Colaba.