Bid to save mangroves: 800 ‘illegal’ hutments demolished in Dahisar, 6,000 in BMC crosshairs

BMC officials during a demolition drive last week. Prashant Nadkar

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished as many as 800 illegal hutments at Ganpat Patil Nagar in Dahisar, which is the second largest slum in Mumbai. The mass demolition was part of a drive initiated by the BMC last week to save mangroves in the area. The BMC plans to demolish around 6,000 illegal hutments in the area. According to activists and environmentalists, these slums have been made on illegal ground and, over the last few years, the number of slum dwellers has only increased. According to officials of R north (Dahisar) ward, Ganpat Patil Nagar slum has now been marked in the priority list due to the increasing illegal dwellers as well as for destroying the mangroves.

Last week, the BMC demolished 500 illegal hutments, and the action was repeated on Wednesday when 300 more hutments were cleared. The demolition was carried out under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of R/North ward, Sandhya Nandedkar.

Ganpat Patil Nagar slum, also known as Naya Dharavi, has more than 12,000 hutments. According to officials, the slum colony is currently occupying nearly 50 acres of area marked as Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ). “BMC has not provided electricity or water connection to the shanties… They rely on the electricity mafia for the same. Currently, of the total 12,000 hutments, we are targeting 6,000 that are very close to the mangrove areas and involved in destroying the mangroves,” said Nandedkar.

She alleged that last time when civic body officials went to demolish the hutments, the slum dwellers pelted stones at them. “This time we went prepared and around 100 police personnel accompanied us for the demolition drive,” Nandedkar added.

The second largest slum area in the city came up around a decade ago, as shanties kept adding up and cutting into large swathes of mangroves. It currently houses more than 50,000 people, of which at least 14,000 are registered voters, making it an attractive vote bank.

Further, officials also said that the mangroves near Ganpat Patil Nagar were being affected due to these illegal hutments. The BMC said that razing the hutments might be a step towards saving the mangroves.

“At present, the slum mafia provides illegal power supply to the residents of Ganpat Patil Nagar at the rate of Rs 500 per month for a tubelight… They continue to live in the area and come back even if we demolish these hutments. Following repeated complaints from the activists and locals in the area, for the first time, we have taken up a mass demolition drive with an aim to save mangroves,” said Nandedkar.