Redevelopment projects only lead to rise in woes….Pooja Domadia
TROUBLED LOT Developers resort to threatening and forging documents to get the projects started, say residents
TROUBLED LOT Developers resort to threatening and forging documents to get the projects started, say residents
Residents of structures that can be redeveloped are one harried lot. For, according to them, they face harassment from all quarters -developers, government authorities and police.
Fatima Ansari, a resident of Hari Niwas Building -a dilapidated structure in Vakola -could be a case in point. Despite not signing on any agreement with Shubham Developers, their goons dragged me out of my house without any notice on April 7. When my mother tried to lodge a complaint at the police station, the policemen beat her up to an extent that she had to be hospitalised, said Ansari.
With skyrocketing land prices and paucity of land in the city, redevelopment projects are being perceived as a profit-making proposition by the developers. However, convincing the residents or tenants of the old structures or slums to part with the land remains a task.
If the residents are to be believed, for this, the developers resort to a `by hook or by crook’ method to get started with the project by relying on practices such as threatening by goons, forging the papers, putting police or political pressure.
Despite their justifications, the residents manage to see through their motives. Some residents from our societies too assist them in forging the documents and signatures, said Naseer Shaikh, resident of Golibar co-operative society.
Housing and social activist Medha Patkar feels the government policies are lopsided.
Some of the policies are meant to benefit the rich while leaving the poor to suffer. I have experienced how violence is practised under the guise of police protection. Old women and kids too are not spared.
Framing alternate options for redevelopment is the need of the hour, states housing activist and former Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (Mhada) chairman Chandrashekhar Prabhu.
Demolitions are being carried out since years. The entire redevelopment policy needs to undergo an overhaul. The option of alternate schemes will protect the residents from falling prey to the loopholes in the policies, said Prabhu.