BMC apathy mars rail project

MUMBAI, Dec 30: Nearly 145 illegal hutments near Bandra terminus have delayed the Western Railway's Rs 13-crore project to start outstation ...

MUMBAI, Dec 30: Nearly 145 illegal hutments near Bandra terminus have delayed the Western Railway’s Rs 13-crore project to start outstation trains from here. The project was commissioned three years ago.

Senior WR officials said in an order issued six months ago, the Supreme Court directed BMC to take steps to relocate and resettle the slumdwellers and build a 70-feet access road to the terminus. But the BMC has not initiated any action so far.

The absence of a safe access road has made it impossible for the WR to introduce new outstation trains from Bandra terminus, railway officials said. “Passengers going out of town still prefer to go to Mumbai Central to take their outstation trains because Bandra terminus doesn’t have a safe access road,” they said, adding that they’ve also received many complaints from passengers about the matter.“Even taxi and autorickshawallahs refuse to come to Bandra terminus, and if they do, they charge twice the normal fare,” an official said.

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Surrounding Bandra terminus on three sides is the unauthorised slum colony, Behrampada, which has occupied railway as well as BMC land. Slums have also mushroomed on the plot earmarked for constructing the access road.

When railway authorities tried to relocate the slums two years ago, they faced political interference: a former MP asked them “not to touch the slums.”

Following this, the railways moved court, and six months ago, the Supreme Court ordered BMC to relocate and resettle the slumdwellers so that the access road could be constructed. BMC authorities admitted to having received the SC order.

Though additional municipal commissioner (western suburbs) Ratnakar Gaikwad clarified that BMC was not a respondent to the case in the apex court, he said BMC had written to the court promising that the slumdwellers would be settled elsewhere.

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He said, “We have sought the cooperation of MHADA, and they have decided to give us 145 tenements at Dharavi for one year. But MHADA has quoted a rent of Rs nine lakhs, and we’re making efforts to get it reduced. Once this is done, the relocation process will begin,” Gaikwad said.

After one year, the slumdwellers would be shifted to a new 10-acre plot in Malvani, Malad west, Gaikwad informed. According to him, the Malad plot belongs to the suburban collectorate, and a lot of planning needs to be done before the relocation takes place.

Once negotiations with MHADA are over, Gaikwad said, temporary relocation of the slums will be done in a couple of months.