Partition refugees may have to vacate homes soon

MUMBAI: It seems like the end of the road for around 1,200 Partition refugee families residing in 'dilapidated' buildings at Sardar Colony in Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar, Sion. The Bombay high court on Monday asked residents of 21 buildings to file an undertaking about when they would vacate the structures.
In the case of four other buildings, a division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla sought fresh reports of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on the stability of the structures. The court has given the residents time till Wednesday to file their affidavits.

The BMC had said the buildings were in a precarious condition. Advocate Dhruti Kapadia, counsel for the BMC, pointed to the TAC report that had concluded that the buildings in Vijay Punjab Cooperative Housing Society could collapse without warning. With regard to building numbers 16, 17, 18 and 19, the HC said a fresh survey and tests would have to be conducted.

The buildings were constructed in the late 1950s on land belonging to the state to house refugees who had come from West Pakistan to Mumbai after the partition of the subcontinent. Based on the TAC report, the BMC on May 7, 2018 issued demolition notices saying the lives of 6,000 residents as well as those of passersby were in danger. Advocate Anand Jondhale, counsel for the residents, said the families would be rendered homeless as the Maharashtra government was yet to frame a redevelopment policy for the 25 buildings.