Drive to vacate illegal slum dwellers halted
WARY OF AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON ITS POLL PROSPECTS, BJP LEGISLATOR AND PARTY’S CITY CHIEF ASHISH SHELAR ASKED THE GOVERNMENT TO SUSPEND THE DRIVE
MUMBAI: The state government ordered the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA)’S drive to weed out ineligible beneficiaries living in its redeveloped colonies to be suspended.
The SRA, in a survey, had found at least 1.63 lakh cases of people occupying homes meant for rehabilitated slum-dwellers.
Soon after, the SRA started issuing notices to these people, asking them to vacate these homes.
Wary of an adverse impact on its poll prospects, BJP legislator and party’s city chief Ashish Shelar asked the government to suspend the drive. Mehta, responding to this, obliged.
The drive was the result of a Bombay high court order in November last year, where the HC had asked the SRA to carry out a survey to find out if there had been any illegal transfers of homes constructed for slumdwellers under the SRA.
Under the SRA act, tenements allotted to beneficiaries of the scheme cannot be transferred for a period of ten years. Even after this period, the transfer can be done only by taking SRA’S permission. However, Shelar said that such a drive was causing panic. “These are poor families who have paid money and bought these tenements. Because of these notices, there is growing fear among residents that they’ll be evicted. Suddenly, people are being told that they are illegally living in these homes”
Responding to criticism of the drive, State housing minister Prakash Mehta said that the government will issue further directions on the issue once the SRA submits its report to the government.
“We will not allow any slumdweller to be dishoused. Since it is a HC order, we will get legal counsel and see what we can do to avoid throwing people out.”