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6th day of fast – A Government of ‘aashwaasan’
‘Aashwaasan‘. Assurance.‘Don’t you trust us?’ they asked. We are camped in the debris of our lives. Our children are not reading books, they are learning slogans of resistance. Our RTIs, FIRs, Court Orders, Appeals, Letters written in blood – they all got crushed under the might of the bulldozer. And still they ask, ‘Don’t you trust us? We assure you we will take action…’
Medhatai is ailing, barely able to walk, but still on the 6th day of her fast she agreed to go to the Collector’s office to meet the Chief Secretary, Ratnakar Gaekwad. So we marched again, a thousand of us hopeful now, and waited below. More than 25 of us, representatives of slums across Mumbai, went on to discuss our issues with Chief Secretary, VP of MHADA - Satish Gawai, Suburban Collector – Nirmal Deshmukh and CEO of SRA – S.S Zende.
For over 4 hours, we showed them the rot that has spread in MHADA and the Builder’s lobby in Mumbai. Amongst other things, we wanted a new High Power Committee to be constituted to look into issues of displacement and corruption, with 4 representatives from the Civil Society (NAPM), and the Chief Secretary as Chairman. We were told of the High Court appointed Committee that is already in place since 2005 – the one that has held a full 3 meetings since then!
We asked for all bastis to be declared legal slums within 3 months and to stop all demolitions until then. We asked for a meeting to implement RAY (Rajiv Aawas Yojna) across all slums, so that everyone gets a chance to get a house without the involvement of a cut-off date. Our points were duly noted, but the Chief Secretary refused to make a time-bound agreement. He only gave us the assurance to act on our pleas. This coming from a man who is the head of more than 300 Committees…..We were told we were wasting his time by being so unreasonable, and made to leave.
Reason does slip a little, we admit, when one’s homes are broken down with such impunity. We want solutions, not empty promises. We want a government of action, not of assurances.
Day 5 ends, We still wait
We wait for them to realise the gravity of the situation. This is not about a few houses only. The government has to stop demolitions across Mumbai. They have to engage us in constructive discussions, which will stop the menace of the bulldozer and give all of us who live in bastis, a right to a house.Instead, the CM sent the Collector Zende with a promise to delay demolitions at Ganesh Krupa, and a Joint Committee to look into the issues raised by Tai. Haven’t we heard all that before?
So we wait. Medhatai’s health is faltering, but not her spirit. So we offered the Collector some chai, and sent him on his way.
She’s losing health, we can see. 5 more of us sit with her again on a day’s fast. Representatives from other slums came and gave speeches, sang songs, gave us courage.
Mayank Gandhi from India against Corruption and Simantini Dhuru from Right to Education Campaign, Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM Uttar Pradesh, Kavita Srivastava, PUCL Rajasthan, Anuradha Talwar, Pashchim Bang Khet Majdoor Union, visited Golibar today to extend full support and solidarity to our cause, strongly condemned the atrocities meted out by the police, and the violation of human rights by the State.
Many eminent people like Kuldeep Nair, Anand Patwardhan, Justice Rajendra Sachar, Aruna Roy, Sandeep Pandey, Prashant Bhusan, Xavier Dais, Ashok Chaudhari and many others have called upon the government to immediately initiate action against the dubious role played by the Shivalik Ventures.
However, there’s no response from the government yet. In the evening, a few hundred of us set out on a march again, to warn the rest of the residents of Golibar about Shivalik builders, and urge them to stand up and fight.
Meanwhile, Tehelka has printed an investigation into the Politician-Builder nexus. A link to the article is below:
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne280511Coverstory.asp
Read it. See how unchecked greed leads to a hammer on our doors. This is our appeal to you again, come stand with us, fight with us.
With Warm Regards,
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