The leaking, crumbling homes at Ghatkopar’s railway police colony

Most of the houses in the 24 buildings are uninhabitable, and they get even worse in the monsoon, according to residents. Every house has leakage issues

MUMBAI: Leaky homes and crumbling buildings aren’t new to the city during the monsoon, but it’s not just ordinary citizens who face these issues. The 500 families staying at the railway police colony in Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar East, fear for their lives every day, claiming that the buildings have become dilapidated and dangerous.

Despite sending letters requesting for the buildings to be repaired, the residents claim the railway police administration hasn’t taken any action (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Constructed in 1980, the colony recently came into the spotlight when a massive, illegal billboard located on its premises collapsed on an adjacent petrol pump, trapping dozens of people under it. Seventeen people were killed and 80 others injured in the May 13 incident.

Residents of the police colony fear a similar mishap in their homes. Sarika Kumbhare, the wife of an assistant sub-inspector, said most of the houses in the 24 buildings are uninhabitable, and they get even worse in the monsoon. Every house has leakage issues, the staircases of most of the buildings are damaged, and several residents have escaped injury when parts of their ceilings gave way. On Monday, two police families moved out of their 350-square-foot staff quarters in the colony as water started seeping in after the city witnessed its first monsoon showers the previous night.

Despite sending letters requesting for the buildings to be repaired, the residents claim the railway police administration hasn’t taken any action. Two days after the hoarding collapse, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) pasted notices instructing the administration to conduct a structural audit of the buildings. However, even after one month, nothing has been done in that regard, said an officer.

The Government Railway Police (GRP), which owns the 36-acre plot where the residential colony has been developed, has constructed a football ground, a swimming pool and lawns where wedding ceremonies are hosted. But residents said the GRP has not paid any heed to the pathetic living conditions at the staff quarters.

“We pay a rent of ₹15,000 per month for these houses, but there are no facilities. No water, damaged drainage system and crumbling building structures,” said Kumbhar who, along with 400 other women from the colony, started a campaign called “aaple hakkache ghar” (our homes by right) in 2016. The group has been demanding the GRP, the public works department (PWD), and the state government to construct a building on just one acre of land at the Colony for the same amount they will spend on repair work.

“No new recruits want to live here. No one wants to give their daughters in marriage to those living here, but we must stay here as we have no other option,” said the wife of a second-generation policeman, staying in building number 13 of the colony for the past 40 years.

Sushil Jangam, a bank employee whose father was a policeman said that although he had to leave the premises, he has been fighting for the police families. He said the petrol pump on which the hoarding collapsed had received a quick nod from the authorities, but the colony’s buildings and the condition of the people staying there have been ignored.

“People are unable to sleep in their houses during the rainy season. A policeman who lives here and does duty for over 12 hours every day cannot even rest quietly at night,” said Jangam. Another resident, who requested anonymity, said the quarters leaked 24x7 during the monsoons. “We have no option but to string up a plastic sheet under the kitchen ceiling,” she said.

The biggest problem, however, was the lack of any redressal mechanism for complaints related to housing. “There are no records of the problems reported by personnel living in the colonies. Many politicians visited the colony and assured us that something would be done, but we have been waiting for years together. Are the authorities waiting for a tragedy like the hoarding collapse to happen here and for us to lose our lives for them to realise our pathetic living conditions?” said another resident of the colony.

When contacted, an engineer working with the PWD who’s in charge of the Ghatkopar area said that they are carrying out the pre-monsoon work at the colony and that structural repairs are also in the pipeline. “The building will last more than 25 years after the repairs,” he claimed.

Senior GRP officials said they had asked the PWD to waterproof the colony buildings’ roofs as a priority. A proposal has also been sent for building repair works with a sanction fund of ₹6 crore. “The land is owned by GRP, but the maintenance work is done by the PWD,” said police inspector Shahaji Nikam, administration in-charge of the GRP.