BMC-police debate who will rid the footpaths of sleepers
November 16, 2006
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Police are passing the buck onto each other over whose responsibility it is to evict pavement dwellers from the city’s footpaths. It is estimated roughly 32,000 people sleep on the footpaths and there is no legal provision as to who should deal with them.
After the Carter Road tragedy last Sunday, this question has once again cropped up. The demand to ban foothpath sleepers is increasing. But the fact remains that those who sleep on footpaths also live there. At the same time instead of removing these people the BMC and police are shrugging off their responsibility by pointing towards each other.
According to Additional Municipal Commissioner Shrikant Singh, “Often the BMC permits contractors to set up a temporary office and provide shelter for labourers working on road projects. After completion of the work the BMC staff demolishes these offices and shanties constructed for the workers. But yet, some of them continue to live there. How can we stop them? We are not responsible for this.”
The police have their own theory. They say that after the BMC’s crackdown on encroachments on footpaths, the helpless slum-dwellers continue to sleep on the footpaths without shelter.
The police cannot initiate action against them.
“Basically the law is silent on this aspect. There is no clear-cut provision in any act to throw away or detain people sleeping on footpath. So on humanitarian grounds the authorities turn a blind eye until an accident takes place,” a senior government official said.