Eviction notice to Chembur chawl residents

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has issued eviction notice to seven residents of Subhash Nagar Chawl at Chembur and has directed them to shift to a transit camp at Ghatkopar. The chawl is going for redevelopment and a private developer has been roped in.

However, three of seven families have opposed MHADA’s alternative accommodation at Ghatkopar.

Abhijit Pethe, president of the Transit Camp Association, said the three families are original residents of the chawl while others are encroachers and hence have not objected to the transit camps.

In a letter to MHADA, Sachin Ghanekar, one of the residents, said the Ghatkopar transit camp is an improper given the increasing criminal activities around the area. “The camp at Ghatkopar is near the rail tracks because of which the area has a lot of anti-social elements around. I have met the original residents of the transit camp and even they cited that living in the area is dangerous,” the letter said.

Ghanekar and other two families have demanded accommodation in Mulund’s Gawanpada area. One resident alleged that authorities have denied Mulund transit camp citing unavailability of houses.

Speaking to the Free Press Journal, Pethe said, “Officials in connivance with agents sell houses of transit camps to nearly Rs 30 lakh in plush areas. They have pocketed crores because of which residents, who are supposed to be shifted, are denied accommodation.” He added that MHADA has not kept track of transit camps and claimed that nearly 22, 000 flats are in transit camps across the city.