4 years later, their dream homes on road to ruin

MUMBAI: All those who wonder why slum dwellers prefer living in a zopadpatti rather than a flat should visit the Chandivali Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project, a complex of over 185-odd buildings created to rehabilitate slum dwellers living within the forest limits of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.Four years ago, TOI had visited the Chandivali complex when it was spanking new, and captured the joy on the faces of the people who were set to shift into the flats. But today, the complex is as squalid as a slum, with pathetic civic amenities and poor infrastructure. "We were much better off living in a slum," said an irate Anjana Patil.For starters, the buildings have telltale signs of water leakage. TOI visited several flats where water dripped from the ceilings to the floor. Take for instance Raju Naik's home, which has a plastic sheet tied to the ceiling to collect the seeping water. Sarika Sakhre has placed a brick inside the plastic sheet at her home to stem the leakage. Sonaji Vishnu Patil, a shrivelled tuberculosis patient, finds the leaking from his ceiling extremely troublesome.Residents say that a tussle between the BMC and builder has meant that neither party has taken responsibility for their sanitation woes or water problems. "There's a central tank for the entire complex, which gets water from the BMC. But of four pumps used to send water to individual homes, only two are working,'' said Mohammad Javed, a resident.Sudhir Suryavanshi said that residents like himself had to pool in money to get water pipes made for their homes.Filth and garbage lie strewn across the complex. The drains are often clogged. Residents recently had the drains cleaned out, with the result that sludge and excreta has been lying on the road inside the complex. The poor sanitation is the cause of several health problems amongst the locals.A plot earmarked for a maidan within the complex has been used to dump concrete slabs. "There's no maidan for us to play in. And this place is full of gutters," said 13-year-old Indranil Patil. Indranil, a Class VIII student, walks half-an-hour to the nearest school each day. While there is a civic school in the complex, it is only up to Class VII. Residents say the credit for the school goes neither to the BMC nor the builder. "Our buildings had space sanctioned for a balwadi. We gave up this space in order to have a school," said Suryavanshi.The area where the SRA complex has been built lies in the middle of nowhere. The narrow roads make it difficult for auto-rickshaws to enter the complex. Cut off from their livelihood, residents have to commute for the better part of the day to get to work.It's little wonder, then, that several slum dwellers say they do not want to shift to the Chandivali SRA complex. TOI visited families living in the slums of Kandivali, which lie within forest limits and are due for rehabilitation. Two families told TOI that they had seen the living conditions in the Chandivali SRA complex and did not want to shift there."Shifting takes place in phases. Families selected to shift are chosen via lots. Everyone hopes that their number does not come up in the lots," said one resident of the Kandivali slum.