The state government seems to be sitting idle on the CM’s instruction that could possibly prevent loss of human life due to incidents of landslides.
On September 19, 2011, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had convened a meeting, comprising all the top bureaucrats and ordered officials to explore the possibility of rehabilitating 22,483 people residing on dangerous hill areas in order to make Mumbai slum-free.
But, even after 22 months of the order being issued and a month’s deadline being set thereafter, the urban development department has not been able to act on the order.
According to a survey conducted by the slum board and city collector, 25 Assembly constituencies in the western and eastern suburbs of the city, have 22,483 hutments located in 327 hilly areas, which have been classified as “dangerous” and need to be shifted urgently. Of these, 9,657 hutments have been deemed to be “most dangerous”. For the remaining parts, authorities have suggested building retaining walls around the hills. But, at many of these locations, especially Saki Naka, no such walls have been built.
Anil Galgali, an RTI activist and chairman of NGO Athak Seva Sangh, who has been continuously following up this issues with the state government said, “Despite the fact that almost 260 people have lost their lives and more than 270 have been injured in landslides between 1992 and 2013, officials are waiting for a bigger disaster.”
Minutes of the 2011 meeting, a copy of which is with The Asian Age, says that the CM ordered the collector to access the “No Development Zone” land to rehabilitate residents of hill areas.
The government, however, claims to have spent close to `200 crore on constructing retaining walls to fortify these hilly areas. “Instead of spending `200 crore, the government should shift slumdwellers to the 15,000 vacant flats of MMRDA and BMC constructed in Mumbai and its outskirts,” said Mr Galgali.
According to experts, shifting residents of hilly areas is an uphill task in itself. Noted housing activist and town planner Chandrashakhar Prabhu said, “The high court has already banned constructing structures in green zones that cover hill areas. In such cases, the buck stops with the state government. The government should create affordable housing projects in outskirts of Mumbai and shift residents.”