Cost of survival in Bhiwandi

Shama’s older daughter had taken her younger sibling to a shop to buy chocolates. The toddler went missing soon after.

THANE: It’s a humid March afternoon, ideal for a restful siesta. But Shama, 40, has dropped her chores and is running frantically through the grimy lanes of Gaibi Nagar, Bhiwandi. She is drenched in sweat, her breathing heavy with panic, as she searches for her three-year-old daughter, who has suddenly vanished from the neighbourhood.

Kalyan,india- March 15 2025 : Gyabi nagar Irani pada, bhiwandi in India on Saturday 14 2025 - (Photo by Pramod Tambe ).

Shama’s older daughter had taken her younger sibling to a shop to buy chocolates. After having their fill, they decided to play in a nearby ground, but in a blink of an eye, the toddler went missing. Realising her absence, she rushed home to inform her mother. Since then, Shama has been searching for her.

“I thought he took her,” she told this reporter in a faint voice, still shaking.

A week ago, Shama had confronted an inebriated man who tried to molest her. She retaliated and a war of words ensued between the two not before the man turned away in anger. Women in the neighbourhood are used to strategizing to ward off the male gaze. And when Shama’s daughter went missing, she was sure “it was him – I still remember the menacing look in his eyes when he turned away from me”.

By the evening, it came to pass that her child had wandered off from the playground to stock up on candies and drifted into the neighbouring Fatima Nagar, where one of Shama’s friends spotted her and called her mother.

“I don’t want her to suffer in this inhuman world. Every day, we hear of molestation and rape cases here. I just want to keep her safe,” she said.

Haphazard growth

Located approximately 33 kilometers from Mumbai, Bhiwandi, once a cluster of villages was a tight-knit community, where people were known to lean on one another in times of trouble; the wheels of its economy ran on the power loom industry, which gave it the moniker of Mumbai’s Little Manchester.

Over time, an influx of migrants from Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal birthed haphazard settlements, which today encompass over 75% of Bhiwandi’s broad swathe. According to the 2011 census, its population was 7 lakh; today, it is around 15 lakh, said the spokesperson for Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation, unwilling to be named.

The ghettos that form the 70-odd slum pockets of Bhiwandi – not too far from Thane City that has been in the throes of a development boom for two decades, and just over an hour away from shiny Mumbai -- are devoid of civic amenities and rife with crime. Open sewers, slushy pathways separating houses – most of them makeshift – stand cheek by jowl in neighbourhoods like Ampada, Gaibi Nagar, Nagav, Sathe Nagar, Ajmer Nagar, Gadhaha Nagar, Ram Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Gayatri Nagar, Navi Basti, Nehru Nagar, Mahatma Phule Nagar, Fatima Nagar and Ekta Nagar.

The areas are bereft of streetlights making it easy for crime to flourish, which have led Shama and many parents like her anxious about their children’s safety.

In 2024, 228 kidnapping cases were registered in Bhiwandi, involving 227 minors. Of these, 161 cases were solved while investigations are on in the remaining cases. Some of the children were found in drainage pits, lakes and accident sites.

Law enforcement authorities put down the alarming number of missing children to inadequate parental supervision – the migrants work long hours in the looms, factories and warehouses -- the trend of kids dropping out of school and an inadequate police force to curb crime.

Six police stations with a staff of 120 in each are struggling to address the rising rate of crime. An officer from Bhiwandi police station said, “On an average four to five children are reported missing every week. While many cases are resolved quickly, others end in tragedy, especially those under 10 years of age.”

Parents often find their children missing when they return home from work. Hours of search later they arrive at the police station, losing crucial time, “by which time the abductors have crossed the city”. A senior police officer shared the challenge of maintaining law and order, in the face of recurring issues such as “fights on the roads, disputes over community matters, and a surge of false complaints”.

“One person comes from his village every month, and on his next visit, he brings 10 to 15 people for work. Overcrowding often leads to conflicts between communities. We have to remain vigilant so that community strife does not escalate,” he said, adding, sometimes, unable to subsist on small jobs, workers take loans and when they are unable to pay, disputes arise, “and eventually everyone lands up at the police station”.

Senior police inspector Vinayak Gaikwad, from the Shanti Nagar police station, said, “Bhiwandi’s massive population poses serious challenges in policing. During patrolling, we often find children as young as two or six wandering alone in poorly lit areas. We try to return them to their families but they remain a vulnerable lot.”

In the first week of February, two-and-a-half-year-old boy Ayansh Jaiswal, from Bhadvad, went missing and was found dead in an open sewage tank after four days. His family had assumed that he was in the care of a neighbour, but the child had wandered off and eventually fell into the uncovered tank.

Unable to bear the loss, his parents left the city to return to their village in Madhya Pradesh. Rajkumar Jaiswal, a relative, said, “They came to Bhiwandi hoping for a better future; now they regret their decision, and wish they had stayed back.”

Living in stench

Sanitation is a luxury in these settlements, where each settlement houses hundreds of families who share five to six toilets. Around 10 to 15 people share a 10X10 room, with a common kitchenette. They take turns to rest in shifts, as they do in the factories. Those who work the night shift sleep in the morning when the day labourers leave.

Some others live in makeshift huts set up in ankle-deep sewage water. On this afternoon when this reporter visited the ghettoes, she found a young mother seated on the floor of a crumbling home, stirring a pot of rice and lentils – the family’s only meal for the day. Her five children sat around her waiting for the meal. She said there were no vegetables or condiments to make the porridge nutritious, and hoped that her husband would return home with some greens.

“We don’t have the time to worry about the stench around us,” she said. “Our only aim is to work. If we stop, our children won’t eat. I just hope the children have a better life.”

Abdul Shaban, professor and chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy, Habitat and Human Development, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, who has extensively studied sum settlements across various regions, said, “These settlements, which are home to marginalised communities, require intervention from the state to develop and improve the infrastructure.”

Shaban also pointed out given Bhiwandi’s proximity to Thane City and Mumbai, the “deprived vulnerable lot becomes easily susceptible to flashy modern attractions; and unable to feed their aspirations with meagre earnings, often turn to illegal acts”.

“Although NGOs, social workers and MLAs have been discussing these issues over the years, little has changed on ground. Children are left unschooled, further widening the gap in opportunities. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated effort from all stakeholders for sustainable change,” said Shaban.

Govind Sharma, co-founder of the Samvad Foundation and a local resident, expressed, “I have lived in Bhiwandi for two generations and have witnessed its haphazard growth. Illegal settlements have put a burden on sanitation, causing public health risks. Water shortages are frequent. Many children drop out of school and are forced into labour. The system is under strain. In every corner, you will find youngsters engaged in sasti nasha (cheap drugs). A collaborative effort is required to turn things around.”

Through its campaign Bhiwandi Mange Jawab, Samvad has highlighted the area’s many infrastructural issues on social media. “70% of the areas have no street lights, have poor sanitation and bad roads,” he added.

Lack of sanitation exposes children to multiple dangers. Recently, a five-year-old girl went missing after her morning ablutions in an open field nearby. She was found a kilometer away from her home, scared as she was unable to find her way back. A local spotted her and led her to her house.

His neighbour Jyoti Singh said, “They had arrived just a week ago, but when the girl went missing, traumatised, they returned to their village in Madhya Pradesh.”

Unable to bear the burden of struggles in their families, school drop outs and pre-teens turning to substance abuse is common. Principal Ajay Patil from the Zilla Parishad school in Rahnal, observed, while children “enjoy their academics for a few years after enrolling, as they progress, become burdened with household chores or supporting their families”.

“Most parents have more than two children, and as the older ones grow up, they spend their days cleaning, taking care of their younger siblings, and handling other domestic responsibilities. Sadly, about 80% of parents do not prioritize their children’s education,” said Patil. Apart from this, he said, they are lured by the attraction of making small money working at the warehouses, factories and brick kilns. “To prevent dropouts, counselling should be introduced at an early stage – not as a one-time initiative but a continuous process to guide them towards meaningful careers.”

Recently, a 17-year-old boy belonging to a family that had migrated from Karnataka dropped out of school and befriended local criminals to make a fast buck. He lived alone with his younger brother while their parents worked in a power loom. He would help the criminals carry weapons for an attack. He was arrested and is being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board. “We came to Mumbai hoping for a better future, but now we have lost our son to crime. We don’t know how to bring him back to a normal life,” said his devastated father, who did not wish to be named.