Save Mumbai

22.9.2004.

To,
Honble Chief Minister,
Shri Sushilkumar Shinde,
Mantralaya,
Mumbai 400032.


Respected Sir,

Sub.:-- Disenfranchisement of encroachers, proposed extension of cut-off date for regularization of slums in Mumbai and urgent steps needed to save this city.

We, the legitimate residents of Mumbai, wish to express our concern at the chain of events of the recent past that demands your urgent attention. Several issues need to be given a careful thought by you and your collegues in the Government to ensure that no injustice is done to the true residents of Mumbai :-

They are :-

1. Need to disenfranchise encroachers and unauthorized slumdwellers in the city.

2. No further extension of date for regularization of slums from the present 1.1.1995 to 1.1.2000 as proposed by you in the Assembly about three weeks back.

3. Need to take stringent action to halt further influx in the city from other States and even from Maharashtra into Mumbai.

Firstly, as you would very well agree, an encroacher who has illegally setup his dwelling in the city by violation of laws just cannot have the right to vote. A citizen cannot, under any law of this land, build a home on public land such as footpath, playground, recreational ground, roads, national parks, private land which is not owned by him. Further, if these encroachers have set up their homes by breaching the law then what right has he to vote in that constituency ? If at all he has to vote, it should be in his place of origin where he owns a legitimate home (i.e. in the state from he has migrated to the city).

Secondly, as you would be aware, the existing slums and the constant influx of thousands of immigrants per day into the city from other states and from Maharashtra itself, is causing a severe and an unbearable strain on the civic infrastructure and maintaining the law & order in the city. This has resulted in usurpation of scarce open spaces, theft of electricity and water, unhygienic conditions, inadequate solid waste management, spread of life threatening diseases like dengue, malaria, gastroenteritis, typhoid, HIV / AIDS etc., increased security threats to the residents, increase in encroachments by unauthorized hawkers, drastic deterioration of quality of life of us citizens etc.

All of the above is fast choking our city to a certain death. Most of the tax-payers money is being utilized to provide amenities to the unauthorized encroachers and slum-dwellers and for paying the salaries of Government servants whereas there is a perennial shortage of funds and manpower to provide livable conditions for us legitimate residents of this city. How long should this be allowed to continue ? Is extending the date of regularization to Jan. 2000 the solution to the problems ?

Finally, the issue of halting the influx of migrants and commercial encroachers (hawkers etc.) into the city and the steps needed to ensure that there is a proper co-ordination between the various Government agencies. At present there are several agencies, who have the authority to evict the encroachers, like the BMC, Police, Collector, MHADA, SRA, MMRDA etc. which, by and large, function in an arbitrary manner and are severely impaired due to a range of reasons like corruption, political interference, lethargy, over-work, man-power shortage, non-availability of Police protection etc. Several of these impediments are rectifiable by ensuring that :-

1. Penal action is taken against concerned officers (Asstt. Municipal Commissioners, Senior Police Inspector etc.) for dereliction of duty.

2. Disqualification of those Corporators who abet, support, interfere in the functioning of an officer or nurture encroachers for pecuniary gains or to use them as future vote-banks. (Section 16 of the BMC Act 1888 provides for this disqualification). At present the politicians are allowed to get away scott free for this misdemeanor.

3. Giving fixed tenure and a freehand to the concerned officer who has been entrusted with carrying out encroachment removal drives. Such officers should not be transferred prematurely by his superiors or at the insistence of a politician, without valid reason. A classic example is of Deputy Conservator of Forests Shri A R Bharati. To prevent punitive / motivated transfer and to give this officer a free-hand in discharge of his duties, the HC has restrained the government from transferring this officer without its consent. And the results are for all to see. Thousands of unauthorized slum-dwellers were evicted from the forest land of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Borivali. Also, recently a recreational park constructed by a local MLA inside the SGNP in gross violation of the anti-encroachment and environment protection laws, was demolished by this officer.

Sir, the decisions of your Government would have far-reaching consequences on the socio-economic and environmental conditions in Mumbai and could negatively impact the life of the future generations. Thus, we urge you, as the Chief Executive of the Government of Maharashtra and senior leader of your party, not to take hasty decisions and to act responsibly and selflessly in the interest of the law-abiding citizens of this city.

We hope you would treat this matter with the urgency it deserves.

Thank you.