The National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) who is spearheading the fight for clean air, water and safe rehabilitation of victims of Mahul, has sought the intervention of the newly formed Maharashtra government led by CM Uddhav Thackeray to help the residents relocate from the ‘gas chamber’ of Mahul to a safer space.
The residents of Mahul have been fighting a losing battle for their lives ever since they were removed from their houses and shifted to their current residence surrounded by refineries and chemical industries. They were only to be ‘temporary’ inhabitants, but it has been more than 7 years that they have been living in the toxic hell.
Most of the residents, right from children to the elders, have been facing health complications ever since they have moved to this extremely toxic area. The unclean water and polluted air has led to severe skin complications, respiratory problems, stomach and throat infections, hair loss and even cancer.
There have been multiple studies on the air in Mahul and a survey of the diseases that affect the victims there. Studies by IIT Bombay and KEM hospital have shown that the air is polluted by carcinogenic chemicals. The victims are also not did not get any compensation by the BJP government for their state-sponsored illnesses.
It is shameful to even talk about the fact that even when the Supreme Court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to compensate these victims and pay them money for relocation, the BMC is passing the buck to the refineries who it says is the real culprit for their pitiable circumstance, and it is the refineries who must pay for their rehabilitation.
Today, at the appeal of NAPM, the GharBachaoGharBanaoAndolan and other human rights groups, help is pouring in from all quarters and doctors have voluntarily signed up to help the residents. A team of general physicians, gynecologists, dermatologists, palliative care experts and pediatricians have come forward to help the people of Mahul who had been left to rot to death only because the then BJP government did not think them as humans for them being from an economically backward background.
The medical camps have been a boon to the people of Mahul who cannot afford expensive treatment at hospitals. But even, then they are just like a bandaid on a gaping wound. What the residents of Mahul need is permanent rehabilitation. NAPM and GBGBA think that the Shiv Sena government will do right by these residents after having taken up the causes of the Aarey Forest.
On the intervention of YUVA Sena leader Aditya Thackeray, 300 new houses were reserved for Mahul residents by MHADA but MCGM held the allotment of these houses by citing technical glitches in the announcement. Now that the new government took a bold decision to stop cutting of Aarey forest which was campaigned around as an issue of pollution, the real victims of pollution in Mahul are waiting for their turn to get justice, writes NAPM.
We stand with the people of Mahul in their fight for their fundamental right to safe and habitable living and a clean environment. Though we are hopeful of positive actions by the new Maharashtra government, change may take some time. Till then, we implore you, the citizens of India, to contribute to the wellness of Mahul residents by donating for medicines that will help alleviate their pain.
Please donate to the cause here.
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