State forms 11-member committee of legislators to rehabilitate 15K slum dwellers of SGNP

The state government of Mumbai has formed an 11-member committee, headed by forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, to expedite the rehabilitation process of 15,000 slum dwellers living in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The committee will identify locations for rehabilitation and assign agencies for the same. The committee is dominated by BJP legislators, with 8 out of 11 members appointed from the party. The government has also appointed one member each from both factions of Shiv Sena. The committee will submit recommendations for the rehabilitation process.

Mumbai: In order to expedite the rehabilitation process of 15,000 slum dwellers living in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), the state government on Friday announced an eleven-member committee of MLAs and MLCs which will be headed by forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

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The issue has been pending since 2008 and the committee’s prime objective is to come up with fruitful solutions, such as identifying locations where residents will be rehabilitated, assigning agencies for the same, and documentation work among other provisions.

Interestingly, the committee is dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators with 8 out of 11 appointed hailing from the party. The government has appointed one member each from both factions of Shiv Sena.

MLA Ashish Shelar, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Amit Satam, Manisha Chaudhary, Sunil Rane, Mihir Kotecha, MLC Praveen Darekar, MLC Rajhans Singh belong to the BJP. While MLA Prakash Surve, MLA Sunil Prabhu and MLC Mahadev Jankar belong to Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) respectively.

He had also assured the council that the forest department will recommend cancelling the tender of DB Realty for not implementing a slum rehabilitation scheme catering to the 15,000 slum dwellers in SGNP.

The forest conservator and director of SGNP will work as coordinator of the committee. “Committee will look after the issues related to the rehabilitation of residents living in the area of SGNP and will recommend the solution,” states the order issued by the forest department.

In 1997, the high court had ordered to rehabilitate the residents living in SGNP outside the national park by charging ₹7000.

SRA was assigned the responsibility of the scheme and in the first phase, it rehabilitated 11,359 residents at Chandivali.

In 2008 other 13,486 families were declared eligible and besides that rehabilitation of 1,795 families from tribal hamlets was also proposed. SRA had appointed Ms DB Realty for the rehabilitation scheme but in the last 15 years, the project has been delayed due to the height restriction by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

In 2018, a high-level committee recommended rehabilitation work through MHADA on the 90 acres of land in Aarey. But MHADA did not get any response to its tenders. Now the committee will look into the issue and will submit a recommendation for the rehabilitation process.