Images: The Hindu
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Mumbai: No shelter for homeless in rains
BMC commits contempt of the Supreme Court ruling to construct night shelters
After April’s sultry and humid heat, monsoons are awaited with joy. Already on social media Hashtag #MumbaiRains has been trending, with attractively worded celebratory posts accompanied and joyous photos.
Who doesn’t wait for the rains? It is a boon to farmers in villages. For Mumbaikars, over 74 lakh travelling every day in local trains, it affords a huge relief.
But for Mumbai’s 57,416 homeless (2011 census) a callous local administration is turning a blind eye to their plight. The National Urban Livelihood Mission of the Ministry of Housing and Urban poverty Alleviation clearly states that there should be a permanent community shelter for every one lakh population. Mumbai has a population of 12,442,373 as per 2011 census. But the BMC does not really care as this reply under the Right to Information Act obtained by the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan reveals.
As per the guidelines, there should be at least 124 community shelters. But it seems that neither the Maharashtra Government nor the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is bothered about risk of life the homeless may face during rains in the absence of any shelter.
A response received through an RTI has revealed that there is no shelter built by MCGM as per NULM guidelines and only 7 night shelters are in existence prior to NULM guidelines which do not match the standard inmates capacity.
The Supreme Court of India and various High Courts have at several occasions clarified that the ‘right to shelter’ is part and parcel of ‘right to life’. This means that denying shelter to anyone is a clear violation of ‘right to life’.
In Mumbai, the finance capital of the county, the contest for space has always been fierce and accessibility to various services also limited. The recent release of Development Plan of Mumbai has again reignited this discourse with citizens groups sending suggestions and objections to ensure that maximum spaces and resources remain in the public domain and are used and allotted in the interests of a wider section of the people, with special focus on poor.
In this contest the poor, especially the homeless lag far, far behind. They are voiceless because there is no legislation which ensure them their ‘right to shelter’. This allows Governments to easily shed their responsibly towards its homeless citizens.
But there are clear rulings from the Supreme Court which has made it mandatory for the state governments to construct shelters for the homeless. But do governments care?
In a latest affidavit filed by Under Secretary to the Government of India, (MHUPA) in the Supreme Court, it is stated that a total amount of Rs. 15272.72 lakh has been allocated to the Maharashtra state in the current fiscal year to construct permanent shelters. It is startling to know that not a single rupee of this allocated amount has been spent so far by the Maharashtra Government.
Prem Kishore Gaikwad, mother of a girl child, in her twenties has been living on pavements since her parent died twenty years back. She cleans the gutters throughout the year except during the rainy season when they switch their job to rag picking. Gaikwad says that “I have built a temporary roof of plastic on the pavement but it leaks badly during the rains, so, we move away to sleep under the nearby bridge”. Her pavement dwelling along with more than 20 families is located at the Santacruz Highway.
The Supreme Court on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by People’s Union For Civil Liberties has made it very clear that “The State owes to the homeless people to ensure at least minimum shelter as part of the State obligation under Article 21”.
The Maharashtra Government by not following the ruling, not acting on allocated amounts for providing shelters is not merely committing contempt of the court’s orders. It is also violating the ‘right to life’ for which the government must be held accountable.
Will Mumbaikars who are today awaiting the onset of three months of rain and breeze join in the campaign for a just distribution of space and resources? And for the availability of decent housing/ shelter for Mumbai’s homeless?
The rains can be a curse to many, fearsome for the homeless, opening risks to the children, infants elderly and sick.
Is anyone listening?
(On the basis of a note by the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan that is planning to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court in August 2016)