National

Thereby Hangs A Storey

These Mumbaikars would rather fall with their buildings than be evicted and be condemned to permanent homelessness

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Thereby Hangs A Storey
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Jariwala Building at Mahim and Botawala Chawl at Mazgaon are two symbols of a homelessness peculiar to Mumbai. Two reminders of faulty housing policies, two stories of resistance to official force. Two buildings of nearly 100-year vintage, ground-plus-two-storey structures with balustrade balconies, wooden pillars, old wooden beams and stone flooring, now the touchstones of a government policy that will determine the fate of nearly 19,500 similarly dilapidated buildings across Mumbai. Jariwala and Botawala house 237 families—about 1,200 residents—who face an uncertain address, unsure future, carry an understandable angst against officials and an unbelievable stubbornness in moving to safer structures. For the first time ever, legal tenants of a building are sought to be evicted en masse, with use of force.

The Maharashtra government through the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will similarly evict residents from 109 "very dangerous buildings" across the old part of the city by end of September, the cost of rebuilding which would be some Rs 600 crore. Officials do not have a picture of the exact numbers involved but they say it may be "around a lakh or little over that". It will be the largest peacetime evacuation ever, the first time that force and police presence is used to ensure that people move. The idea is that MHADA or a joint venture between itself and private builders will redevelop the crumbling structures with upgraded infrastructure so that tottering buildings in South Mumbai become structurally safe for another century. It's easier said than done, if Jariwala and Botawala are anything to go by.

Redevelopment of dilapidated buildings is an old task that the government and MHADA set for themselves but it assumed top-priority status this week in the wake of four building collapses between August 21 and 28, killing about 18 people and injuring over 50. The first to come crashing down was Mistry Building at Tardeo, followed by Sadaf Manzil at Nagpada, then Tulsi Bhavan and Masjid and Rasiwala Building at Dhobi Talao. Building crashes—old dilapidated structures declared unsafe by MHADA or the civic corporation—are routine especially during the monsoon months but this year has been different. It's like a new epidemic after the July flood. A survey showed 109 structures on the verge of collapse—beyond repair, calling for urgent evacuation.

The evacuation is turning into eviction, mostly forcible, because residents are unwilling to move. They would rather face a collapse and death than move into a MHADA transit camp that's filthy, almost slum-like. Middle-class residents of old chawls cannot even entertain the idea of living there. Moreover, the legend of transit camps is that no one knows when you will return home, when your building will be rebuilt. Families have spent a lifetime in transit camps—a paradox in itself. The resistance to move is typified by 70-year-old Freny Chhapkhanawala in the family building across Marine Lines; she threatened to jump out of her second floor balcony if MHADA officials spoke of shifting her and tenants to a transit camp.

The resistance is feisty and well-founded, there are few success stories of rebuilt structures or good transit camps. Faced with such resistance, officials do the only thing they can. Which is to paste official notices declaring the building dangerous and laying the blame on residents for any loss of life and property. Residents now demand some agreement be signed before they even consider evacuating the building. "On what basis do we move out?" asks Uday Desai in Jariwala Chawl. Even as officials went about eviction procedures, residents made preparations for the forthcoming Ganesh festival. They want to "bring Lord Ganesha home one last time"; they ask for 15 days.The officials, driven by a sudden urgency, declare 48 hours maximum.

Most residents of old buildings are tenants paying nominal rents of Rs 30 to Rs 150 to landlords but many have paid a "pagdi" or a one-time hefty deposit of a few lakhs to ensure their nominal ownership over the house. Since rents are low, frozen at 1942 rates under the archaic Rent Control Act, landlords claim to have no funds to repair these buildings or even maintain them. Zero maintenance coupled with typical old wooden framework—non-reinforced concrete and cement (RCC) and non-load-bearing—means these buildings are dangerous to live in. Residents have made internal changes, even structural ones, that weaken the buildings. So, every year, MHADA runs through an exercise to determine Grade I, II and III danger for the three categories: pre-1940, 1940 to 1950 and post-1950 construction. Grade I is most dangerous, beyond repair.

The annual ritual has turned into a joke. Officials inspect what they can and declare a building safe or unsafe depending on visual inspection. "There is no machinery in the world to do a comprehensive inspection of wooden structures," says a MHADA source. "We know of machines that do an ultrasound check of RCC structures but we have to rely on visual inspection, mostly from the outside of the building. How do we assess the strength of the foundation?" It may be a valid excuse but is only part of the problem.

The MHADA Act allows "forcible eviction" under Sections 77 (B), 91 and 95 (A) but to carry out legal measures against lakhs of people is not a task any of the players in this game are looking forward to. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who heads the urban development department, has assured families of their homes in two years but no one is buying his words yet. As Prakash Binsale, former member of MHADA and head of Bombay Repair Board, says, "It is a social problem. If we believe that the government is committed to roti, kapda aur makaan, we have to find a way out of the mess and mistrust that prevails now." In his tenure, he found that that the Bombay Repair Board, part of MHADA and responsible for repairing dilapidated structures, had a paltry budget of Rs 120 per square foot. This has not gone up.

So, MHADA approaches tenants or landlords or private builders. Sometimes, the corruption-ridden monolith takes on the task itself but hasn't made a success of it. Where tenants or landlords have interacted directly with private builders, success means tall gleaming towers with plush houses sold in the market with make-do tenements for old residents, increasing the load on the 150-year-old infrastructure.

So, is there any hope at all? Deshmukh might just be sitting on the plan that could become the pilot project. Remarkably, it was put forth by MHADA itself. The chawl at 20 Mangalwadi in old Girgaum could crash any moment. The plan was to draw up joint agreements between MHADA, landlords and tenants where MHADA would be the builder with pre-approved plans, tenants would get their 225 sq ft flats and the landlord would have an additional 10 per cent of the redeveloped area. It awaits final clearance from the urban development department. The other route now under consideration is to involve private builders and work out a cluster plan so that a group of old buildings can be redeveloped together. Top bureaucrats believe that eviction from old buildings will be a smoother process if residents can see that it is temporary and to their benefit. Till such time, eviction even for the sake of safety, will be seen as homelessness.

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