Satellite images help civic body detect squatters….Linah Baliga
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) used Google Earth’s high-resolution satellite images to pinpoint and demolish illegal structures in Dahisar on Wednesday. The BMC now plans to use the satellite imaging system to keep track of encroachments across the city.
In a five-hour drive, 475 hutments and 65 commercial structures were demolished at Dahisar’s Ganpat Patil Nagar. The drive was planned after the New Link Road Residents’ Forum provided BMC officials with information, backed by Google Earth images. All structures were located in a coastal regulatory zone (CRZ 1) and no-development zone (NDZ).
“The residents’ forum provided us information about structures present till 2000. Satellite maps showed structures of 2009. We could thus identify the encroached areas,” a civic official said.
Forum member Harish Pandey said, “Satellite mapping doesn’t lie. It clearly shows the increase in encroachments over the years.” The forum said it had spent $599 on getting the images. “The money will be collected from local residents. The images are sharp and clearly visible. We got the images of slums dating back to 2000 in 2010,” said Pandey. The BMC used five excavators, 60 labourers and 25 civic staff, with police protection.
The residents had filed a public interest litigation in January 2010 against the proliferation of illegal slums in the area. A right to information petition revealed that 450 slums in 1995 had increased to 10,000 in 2011.
“Slum-dwellers have been robbing water, electricity from street-lights, and defecating on roads, thus posing a hygiene problem for local residents. Hawking on the streets also blocks traffic. The roads cannot be used by local residents. They are close to Gorai creek, and are an ideal hiding spot for anti-social elements,” said Pandey.
He said local citizens were deprived of basic amenities and the slums at Ganpat Patil Nagar were cultivated for vote-bank politics. “Funds meant for tax-paying citizens were diverted by elected represent- atives. Last year, a slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) plan was mooted for the slums. When we got wind of this, we got a stay under our PIL filed in January 2010. The SRA was mooted by the Congress and the survey was conducted free,” he said.