BMC Demolishes Slum In Bandra; Residents' Wait Continues For Promised Homes

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on August 24, bulldozed a slum area near Bandra (East) Railway Station to complete a long-delayed work by opening a lane for auto-rickshaws outside the station. The path was becoming more congested due to the structures that were making it challenging for cars to pass. 

The structures that were destroyed by a bulldozer were barely built two to three months ago. Residents stated that while sometimes the BMC asserts ownership over the land and other times the Railway authorities do, only the occupants are the ones who suffer amid the ownership issue. Meanwhile, one of the slum residents said that the government authorities promised to accommodate 175 flats with the intention of enticing residents to relocate, but they have given only 35 so far.

Regular commuter Sandeep Kadam claimed that the BMC should have acted much earlier and that the bulldozing act was necessary. "The patch is unleveled, so the local government must also build a suitable road," he said.

Calls and texts regarding the August 24 action received no response from civic officials.

The local government occasionally takes action to prevent encroachments. A location close to the demolished skywalk and the Indian Oil building was recently cleared by the BMC. After the local government started a demolition push in the region a few years ago, a massive fire broke out, which had an impact on train operations on the Harbour Line.

In July, when the city was witnessing hefty rains, BMC demolished unauthorized huts in Malvani’s Ambujwadi. After the huts were bulldozed more than 200 families became homeless. Most of them were migrant workers.

A shakha (local branch office) run by Sena's Thackeray faction was destroyed by the BMC in June. Local Shiv Sena UBT members said that the action resulted from political vendetta while civic officials insisted that the shakha was built unlawfully. The shakha was located in Bandra East.

M M Mithaiwala in Malad, along with 19 other stores, was bulldozed by the BMC in April as part of a road-widening project. Due to a significant traffic jam on Anand Road, which is next to Malad West Railway Station, the sweet shop and other popular snack joints like Delhi Sweets and Jalpan Snacks were demolished. BEST buses and other vehicles traveling to and from the station are the main users of this road.

A day after the Dindoshi City Civil Court declined to forbid the BMC from moving through with the demolition, the work was started. Suresh Gupta, one of the property owners, filed a court case arguing that buildings on private land could not be demolished without first acquiring the site. The BMC attorney, Dharmendra Vyas, argued that the structures needed to be dismantled as part of infrastructure work to ease the bottleneck near the Malad railway station, and the court dismissed Gupta's request for a stay on the destruction.

The BMC razed an entire chawl in Andheri (West) that borders SV Road close to the junction with JP Road in May. Near the intersection of the JP route and SV Road, fourteen G+1 structures of a chawl that impeded traffic were demolished in order to widen the route.

The portion of SV Road where the chawls were removed will be made a full 90 feet wide by adding an additional 25 feet of width. The BMC had been sending letters for the past 1.5 years, and the demolition procedure was laborious.