The civic body has succeeded in evicting 110 slum-dwellers, who had constructed hutments in and around the water mains, near Behrampada in Bandra.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken its first steps towards securing the city’s water pipelines. The civic body has succeeded in evicting 110 slum-dwellers, who had constructed hutments in and around the water mains, near Behrampada in Bandra. The demolition drive was successfully carried out on Wednesday.
Also to prevent the hutments from resurfacing as was observed on previous occasions, when similar drives were conducted, the BMC has fenced the evicted portion. A senior BMC official said that sensing trouble from the affected slum dwellers, 80 private security guards have been appointed on contract by the BMC and have been posted at the site.
Officials said that the Behrampada demolition drive would boost the morale of the authorities to undertake similar drives at other sites. Close to 32,000 families are believed to be residing dangerously close to water pipelines running across the city.
In July last year, the BMC drew flak from the Bombay high court for its inability to protect the water pipelines from slum encroachments. The court was hearing a public litigation, which pointed out that the existence of habitation in and around the pipelines presented threats of water contamination and security.
Three water pipelines — two Tansa mains and a Vaitarna main - pass through Behrampada. Past attempts at evicting the slum dwellers had proved futile with one of them even turning violent. The civic officials were chased off by an angry mob.
The BMC now plans to erect a permanent fence (a wall) in the reclaimed 700 metre portion. Plans are also being drawn to get rid of encroachments at other portions in the region. Officials, meanwhile, have filed complaints against attempts being made by the slum dwellers to undo the fencing and reclaim the property. The Nirmal Nagar police station has also detained some of the miscreants, the officials said.
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