Pushed to the margins: Ambujwadi residents demand roof over heads amid harsh rainfall

On Saturday, a bulldozer visited the area again to dig a trench for a boundary wall at the borders of the settlement, scaring the residents that more of their belongings were under threat. The women stepped in its way and attempted to block it, following which eleven people – eight women and three men – were taken to the police station

Mumbai: Over 200 families left without roofs after bulldozers rolled into their unauthorised huts in Malvani’s Ambujwadi on July 19 are yet to come to terms with losing their homes in the demolition drive.

Mumbai, India - July 24, 2023 : Residents of Ambujwadi protest for demolition in a slum yeria without notice at Ambujwadi, Malad, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, July 24, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

“People don’t even break a bird’s nest in the rain, but they’ve broken our homes and left us on the street,” said Lakshmi Gaur, a resident of Ambujwadi in Malvani. Lakshmi and several women of the area gathered on Monday in the area under a “pandal,” to demand their basic rights to live. “All we’re asking is that we’re given a place to stay, either let us remake our homes here or give us some place else to go,” added Lakshmi.

Their houses were demolished by the team of deputy collector (encroachments), who had said that it was done on the orders of guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

With barely enough space to fit a bed, some of the families, mostly migrant workers, have built a makeshift shelters in the rubble, using sticks and tarpaulin, to stay under a roof in order to protect themselves from the harsh rainfall.

The families are not only concerned about food but hygiene is a major concern for them too. Residents said they plan to continue to protest till they are provided shelter. They are being supported by Jan Haq Sangharsh Samiti.

On Saturday, a bulldozer visited the area again to dig a trench for a boundary wall at the borders of the settlement, scaring the residents that more of their belongings were under threat. The women stepped in its way and attempted to block it, following which eleven people – eight women and three men – were taken to the police station. They left in two hours.

Shubham Kothari from the JHSS said, “The additional collector, Pankaj Deore, has promised the residents that the construction of the boundary wall and demolitions will not continue till the monsoon.”

Several families reported having moved to the area around six years ago. Back then, the land was a mangrove area which was dumped with debris by settlers and “land mafia” to make it suitable for them to stay. Some were called by their husbands as they were living away with their children in villages, others moved from other areas in Mumbai as their houses elsewhere were demolished. A majority of them are migrant workers, with the men working as daily wage workers, rickshaw drivers, and vegetable and fruit hand cart pullers, earning around ₹300 to ₹400 a day.

“The area used to be marshy land where water would collect up to our waists,” said another resident, Sakina. “We would make these platforms and sleep on them because we didn’t have any other choices. Snakes would come too, but we don’t have enough money to rent or put down a deposit for a house. If they didn’t want us to settle here, why didn’t they move us at the start?”

And while their houses were made “kachcha” houses made of steel sheets with no proper floors, they were a far cry from their living situations today. In the years they had built their homes, they received electricity and water connections, cobbling over what they could over the years.

With no way to arrange their food and water, other residents of the area have stepped up and are distributing all meals and water.

“They didn’t even give us time to take our belongings out of our house. Where do we get clothes and wash them now?,” said Noor Jahan, a resident.

Many residents complained of health problems, including those that had struck their children, as they’ve been left exposed to the harsh rain. As a result, many children have also had to stop going to school.

Immanuel study centre, which served as an unregistered school for children from primary to fourth grade also stands demolished. With the skeleton of the educational institute’s hall still standing, the ten teachers who taught at the school had constructed a makeshift shelter for some of the school’s belongings, so that they could respond to the parents of the 350 students enrolled.

“The authorities didn’t even spare the school even as students were studying inside. We shifted them to two classrooms, after which we had to take them out while they demolished the whole structure. We’re thinking about what we can do next,” said a teacher, Vijay. Now, the benches used in the school are left behind, heaped over one another.