Mumbai:
Social Activist Medha Patkar has been on a seven-day hunger strike to protest against the demolition of 43 houses in the Ganesh Krupa Housing Society in the Golibar Slum area of Mumbai.
Ms Patkar has been fasting at the spot where the houses once stood. She told NDTV, "The authorities have gone back on their word that no evictions and demolitions would take place while an enquiry is on into the alleged irregularities in the re-development scheme."
Earlier this month, Union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation, Ajay Maken, had written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to intervene and ensure that slum dwellers are not evicted in violation of existing policy of redevelopment and resettlement. However, the Chief Minister has neither responded to the letter nor initiated dialogue to solve the dispute.
While there is an eviction order in this case, residents of Ganesh Krupa Housing Society allege that the developer has committed a fraud by not giving them proper documents. Prerna Gaikwad, a resident of the area told NDTV, "The builder has not given us a single document. We have heard that the buildings where we are to be permanently rehabilitated are on disputed land. The transit camps they have provided are in very bad condition and no one can live there. What do we do? Where do we go? This is the only way to draw attention to the injustice we are suffering."
Meanwhile, other activists like Aruna Roy, former Supreme Court Judge Rajinder Sachar, Writer and Former Rajya Sabha Member Kuldip Nayyar, Swami Agnivesh are amongst others who have written to the Chief Minister expressing their outrage at the fact the state government has not bothered to talk to Medha Patkar even once. The National Human Rights Commission has also issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police to reply within two weeks on the demolitions.