Written by Rupsa Chakraborty Mumbai | Updated: August 22, 2022 12:59:26 am
For three years since the incident, all the affected families had been living at the same spot, fearing for their lives. (Express)Twenty two-year-old Priti Kanojiya has a new home — Flat number 204. This is the first licit domicile address of the woman, who, in 2019, lost her toddler niece to a landslide in Kurar village in Malad. The incident had taken the lives of a total of 32 persons. After a three-year wait, Kanojiya and 70 such disaster-affected families like herself have been rehabilitated to a seven-storeyed SRA building in Appa Padda, Malad. They got the keys to their new homes on Saturday from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
While packing utensils for the move to her new home, she said, “During monsoon, we lived in fear that the incident of 2019 could happen again, killing us all. Due to the rainfall, we used to get electricity only at night and drinking water every 2-3 days.”
“Now, we will finally be able to sleep peacefully in a new building. But there is an emptiness in my heart as I would never get my niece back,” she added.
Twenty two-year-old Priti Kanojiya (Express) On the midnight of July 1, 2019, Janvi Kanojia, the one-and-a-half-year-old niece of Priti, was sleeping on her mother’s lap when water, which gushed in after a huge retaining wall dividing the BMC’s reservoir and hill slope collapsed at Ambedkar Nagar and Pimpari Pada in Kurar, sweeping her away. Her lifeless body was found after hours of search, at dawn. She was among 10 children who died in the disaster.
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For three years since the incident, all the affected families had been living at the same spot, fearing for their lives. Only 86 families, who lost a kin or their shanties, were shifted to Mahul in the same year.The rehabilitation of the remaining slum dwellers was stuck in a dispute between the forest department and the BMC, residents alleged.
Bilal Khan from Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao Andolan said as the land comes within the ambit of the forest department, they were supposed to arrange rehabilitation in the wake of the landslide. However, since they didn’t have permanent dwelling places, the civic body had to step in.
“It was way back in 1997 that the Bombay High Court ordered the authority to rehabilitate them. However, it got delayed,” he said.
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Later, he approached the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, seeking rehabilitation of the affected slum dwellers.
“We demanded immediate rehabilitation of these people. Funds for this purpose were also sanctioned by the previous government. However, before the completion of the rehabilitation process, the government changed. The new regime completed the process,” he added.
First published on: 22-08-2022 at 12:56:25 am