Penalise encroachments, don’t treat slum dwellers as vote bank: Dahisar residents tell candidates

Slum dwellers often burn garbage and set fire to mangroves in a bid to clear more area and build new tenements, say residents

Mumbai: The New Link Road Residents Forum (NLRRF), comprising residents of 30-40 housing societies along the Link Road in Dahisar, has urged assembly poll candidates to take note of encroachments on mangroves in Ganpat Patil Nagar, a slum settlement, as opposed to treating the slum dwellers as a vote bank.

The settlement was limited to a few hundred tenements till a few years ago, but has grown exponentially now, with tenements made of bricks, metal sheets and tarpaulin standing out amid the green mangrove cover, NLRRF members told HT. (Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

“Despite many complaints to the local administration and politicians about slum dwellers encroaching on mangroves, nothing has been done,” said Harish Pandey, a member of NLRRF. “We demand that politicians treat the middle class fairly and hear our voices. They should not simply work to appease the illegal slumdwellers.”

Located on the western side of the Link Road, Ganpat Patil Nagar is surrounded by large swathes of mangroves, stretching all the way up to Uttan in the west, Gorai towards the south and Bhayander in the north. NLRRF members had first complained about encroachments in the settlement in violation of coastal regulation zone rules in 2015. They had complained to the civic body and the police that mangroves had been hacked and close to 15 acres of wetlands were being reclaimed to house slum tenements and a parking area for tourist buses.

The settlement was limited to a few hundred tenements till a few years ago, but has grown exponentially now, with tenements made of bricks, metal sheets and tarpaulin standing out amid the green mangrove cover, NLRRF members told HT. It also includes the parking lot which accommodates several private intercity buses. The parking lot was removed a few times in the past, but it returned and continues to thrive, they said.

P Prabhu, another NLRRF member, claimed that slum dwellers often burn garbage and set fire to mangroves in a bid to clear more area and build new tenements. With the government easing cut-off dates to legalise slums, more and more dwellers are illegally constructing inside the wetlands, Prabhu and others alleged.

“These illegal slumdwellers get freebies even as they destroy the wetlands and burn biomass, leading to air and water pollution,” said Dr S Mathew, another NLRRF member. There should be a robust mechanism to identify legitimate voters, he demanded.

Manisha Chaudhary, the incumbent MLA, said the encroachments in Ganpat Patil Nagar were on private land.

“We began identifying the extent of encroachment and marking the mangrove land as well. We are working towards slum free Dahisar wherein the dwellers will be rehabilitated in better living conditions,” said Chaudhary.