Improve basic living conditions in Govandi, rights panel tells state

Taking cognisance of the deplorable living conditions in M/E Ward, among the city’s most deprived localities, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) recently instructed the state government to take concrete steps to improve public infrastructure in the area, per the recommendations of an expert committee tasked with identifying “various socio-economic and socio-environmental factors responsible for the poor health indicators of M-E Ward”

Taking cognisance of the deplorable living conditions in M/E Ward, among the city’s most deprived localities, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) recently instructed the state government to take concrete steps to improve public infrastructure in the area, per the recommendations of an expert committee tasked with identifying “various socio-economic and socio-environmental factors responsible for the poor health indicators of M-E Ward”.

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Notably, the life expectancy of residents here, as of 2009, was 39 years as against the 56 years for Mumbai and 73 for urban Maharashtra. This is perhaps the most glaring indicator of poor health conditions. “The annual TB report of 2017 of India reveals that Govandi is a major TB hotspot in the city; cases in M East ward amount to a prevalence of 1,055 cases per 1 lakh persons which is about three to five times higher than the national average. The ward also had 2,800 residents on active treatment for drug-resistant TB in 2020, the biggest cluster of patients in the city,” the expert committee report notes.

This follows field observations by a group of law interns in March 2019, which noted that the “lack of access to quality healthcare...coupled with lack of sanitary facilities has caused numerous health issues in the community”. These were brought to the attention of the MSHRC, which appointed Bilal Khan, of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, as amicus curiae in the matter.

The committee submitted its detailed report to the MSHRC on December 5, 2022, making 17 recommendations across three thematic areas, namely health and nutrition, livelihoods, and environmental vulnerabilities. On February 7, the MSHRC directed the Maharashtra government to implement these recommendations, which include decommissioning hazardous land use in the region, including the sprawling Deonar landfill, industries, a biomedical waste incinerator and others.

“The MCGM and various relevant authorities must work out a plan to gradually close down or move out hazardous and polluting activities from the ward such as the landfill, petroleum refineries, fertiliser plant, abattoir and biomedical waste facility,” the committee report states. “It is imperative that the livelihood implications of shutting down each of these facilities be assessed, that these are not undertaken in a heavy-handed way, and the livelihoods be rehabilitated through government programmes before these facilities are phased out.”