70-year-old dies after 15 years in transit camp, waiting for her SRA home

It was on the promise of a 269-sq-ft flat that Kamladevi had moved to Jai Shiv Sai society at Bandra East after her slum was demolished. “If you visit the transit camp today, the condition is so bad that even animals cannot live here. My mother died doing rounds of the SRA and builder’s office,” said Namrata Tiwari, her daughter

MUMBAI: For 15 years, Kamladevi Mishra spent her life in an 8x8-feet transit camp room, waiting to move into a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) house. But that was not to be. On February 1, 70-year-old Kamladevi died in her transit camp room.

70-year-old dies after 15 years in transit camp, waiting for her SRA home

It was on the promise of a 269-sq-ft flat that Kamladevi had moved to Jai Shiv Sai society at Bandra East after her slum was demolished. “If you visit the transit camp today, the condition is so bad that even animals cannot live here. My mother died doing rounds of the SRA and builder’s office,” said Namrata Tiwari, her daughter.

Tiwari said her mother came to Mumbai at the age of 20 and lived in a slum in Bandra East. “We don’t know what to even say about Satish Lokhande (CEO of the SRA) and the SRA officials,” she said. “My mother, who couldn’t even walk properly, went to see Lokhande more than 10 times in the past few months but nobody helped her. In fact, there are flats in the new SRA building that are illegally occupied by the builder but SRA officials have not got them vacated and handed over to the families. I want to ask the SRA CEO: what was my mother’s fault? What was she punished for?”

When contacted, Lokhande said the builder had already constructed around 165 tenements and given them to the eligible owners. “Kamladevi’s house is still under construction and will take two more years,” he said. “We have given an ultimatum to the builder, and will follow up.”

Shreeprakash Mishra, an activist fighting for a house in the same SRA project, shared a document written to the builder by the executive engineer of the SRA’s H/E department. The letter asks the builder to convert two illegally occupied residential-cum-commercial tenements in the SRA project and hand them over to Kamladevi Mishra and Jhalra Devi Yadav within seven days. HT has a copy of the letter, dated November 9, 2023.

Shreeprakash said that Jhalra Devi too passed away waiting for her home. “Kamladevi died on February 1 and Jhalradevi died last December,” he said. Ankit, Jhalra Devi’s grandson, revealed that the builder also owed them around ₹10 lakh in rent. “We could have used that money to treat her stomach disorder in a private hospital and saved her,” he said.

On the non-payment of rent, Lokhande, without getting into specifics, said that the SRA had clear guidelines that builders would not be allowed to construct buildings unless rents were paid. “There is no question of rent not being paid,” he said, adding, “All of this will be streamlined.”

Shreeprakash said there were more than 1.65 lakh families stranded in transit camps across Mumbai. “So many of us are stuck in small rooms due to inefficiency and corruption in the SRA and builders,” he said. “We hope this issue is taken up seriously, and people should not have to die waiting for their rightful homes.”