'Our chawl is a time bomb'

We are also fighters
Tragedy brings out the best in people and that is what happened with the three of us. We’re homemakers, but we’re also fighters — we are fighting lawsuits against Shreepati Builders in both the Mumbai High Court and the Supreme Court.

There are 10 chawls that are more than 100 years old in our Pimpalwadi neighbourhood, all owned by the Harkisandas Hospital Trust. One collapsed in the ‘70s and years later, Nationalist Congress Party leader Mangesh Mohite formed a tenants’ association, with us as members. He said our chawl was due for redevelopment and told us to allow a private builder — rather than MHADA — to do this. Mohite drew up a proposal, which allotted each of us 225 sq ft flats. We were told that our approval will  facilitate the builder with a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) and we could amend it.

However, Shreepati built the houses only in the A wing saying this was the final deal. Why should we accept less space when we had paid for an extra 100 sq ft space? It was then when we formed the Pimpalwadi Tenant Association and moved the high court in 2002 to get the NOC cancelled. We also asked the court to issue instructions for a new wing. Hopefully, many of us will move into the new wing as the two old ones are  demolished. Sadly, the state seems to have no consideration for original tenants. Many of us here are living below the poverty line. We are often told we have no right to take on big builders or the housing authority, but we will not be cowed down.
Archana Jaywant Vaidya, Seema Gaekwad and Anita Desai are members of the Pimpalwadi Tenant Association

Till death do us apart
Our chawl Urankarwadi, was named after the original builder, Paudwal, who was from Uran. This cluster of four chawls is over 125 years old, and is made up of more than 80 rooms spread over two storeys. In 1980, when the government offered 1.66 FSI, our landlord Girish Shah built a new chawl here.

The building I live in has been repaired three times. We are a vigilant set of tenants and I’m a member of the Mumbai Federation of Tenants Association. They have helped us fend off builders and shut illegal shops on the ground floor of our building.

I’ve lived here for 70 years and only death can move me from here. The market is close by; there are good schools and colleges and the area, Girgaum, is well-connected with other parts of Mumbai. No wonder developers are eyeing our property. But there is no reason to demolish our chawls, especially since they are in good shape.

I live in a 300 sq ft house in a chawl. I know this is not much, but to me, it is home. I don’t hanker for an apartment in a skyscraper.

Today, I could sell my quarters for Rs24 lakh, but I won’t. Some of my neighbours did sell and leave, but not me. Our landlord has pledged to set aside a corpus of Rs10 lakh for maintenance, and told us he will pay us Rs4,000 to rent a place somewhere else. But we turned it down. Where can I get a place as good as Girgaum in Mumbai for such little money?
Manohar Samant is resident of Urankarwadi Chawl and president of the Mumbai Federation of Tenants’ Association

It’s a time bomb
Every time a train pulls into Chinchpokli station, our chawl shakes. It’s over 90 years old, and I’ve lived here for 50. Our ‘landlord’ is a trust, headed by Jayant Khatau. Our chawl has 137 tenants and 13 shops. When one part of it started crumbling, we decided to go in for redevelopment, even though there were only three residents in that section. Repairs have been long overdue, and we would rather live in secure houses than hold out on reconstruction. We are prepared to go and live in transit camps.

About 90 of us will move to Prateeksha Nagar transit camp in Sion soon. There is some concern that all these assurances will never be completed. That’s why we have formed a committee to liaise with officials. It’s a risk we are willing to take rather than live on the time bomb our chawl has turned into.

We have had several meetings with government officials and MHADA has taken over the property and has assured us that a new structure will come up within two years of demolishing. We cannot afford to pay for redevelopment and the rents after the new construction comes up.
Dilip Talekar is resident of Motiwani Chawl, which is set to be redeveloped soon

We may have no home
When my father and I first saw Vasudeo building in 1970, it was already dilapidated. The toilet on the first floor had nearly collapsed, and many of our relatives thought we were crazy to buy a house here. The basic foundation, however,  was sturdy and with some repairs, we could extend the life of the building. The 14 families who live here were educated, but clearly tight-fisted; they had not thought to carry out repairs to this 80-year-old building themselves.

After I moved in, I asked the residents if they were willing to pay for repairs and most agreed, while some didn’t. Some of us then approached the BMC office in Chandanwadi and submitted a proposal for renovation. We managed to complete the repairs within a year, even though all tenants didn’t agree.

We  now need to repair the roof, but some tenants are still opposed to this idea. They don’t understand that unless we pool in our resources, one day, this whole structure will collapse. We recently got a structural audit done which shows the building is safe for the next 25 years. But what after that? If we don’t follow up, we may soon not have a home at all.
Dr TS Mavlankar is secretary of Vasudeo chawl in Dabul, Chira bazar

We want a secure life
Our chawl, Penbhai Niwas in Chinchpokli, is an example of how tenants are paying taxes on behalf of the landlord. In 1985, we had a fight with our landlord Veerbhai Dayabhai Shah, over repairs. He stopped coming here and now we pay all the taxes. We realised the landlord had lost interest in this property after he stopped collecting rent from us. So 43 of us tenants formed a committee and paid up to Rs50,000 in taxes. We even cleared the land tax the landlord owed the BMC, so that we could retain civic amenities such as water and power.

I’ve been living here for 50 years, and I just want to know one thing: if we are paying all the taxes and arrears, why is the BMC or the government not giving us ownership? Today, the entire chawl hinges on two bamboo sticks, which are holding up the staircase. We want all of this to be repaired, but talks with MHADA officials and the state government have proved fruitless. We want a secure house to live in; we only hope the MHADA will give us permission to go ahead with repairs, rather than wait for a landlord who has vanished.
Janardan Bankar is resident of a chawl which has been abandoned by its landlord