Residents of Worli Koliwada hold candle march against decision to declare 4 acres of land as slum

Nearly 10,000 residents of Worli Koliwada came together to protest against the area being declared as slums. The residents of Koliwada claim that there is an attempt from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority and also from certain developers to declare around 4 acre land as slum, which it isn't.

Prahlad Worlikar, secretary of the Worli koliwada Owners Welfare Cooperative society, said, “Today we held a candle march as a silent protest and nearly 10,000 people from all over Koliwada came to protest against this plan. We aren’t slums, today they are targeting 4 acres, soon they will target whole of Koliwada. We are against it and hence we held the protest.”

While only 4 acres is being affected because of this decision, but residents of unaffected parts also participated in the protest. “We have been here even before many people came to this city, we are original habitats not slum dwellers. We need a proper planning for redevelopment and we  hope that government doesn’t treat it  this way,” said Darshan Worlikar, resident of Koliwada.

Koliwada is spread over 65 acres of land, and after the Worli sea link came up, various developers  have been eyeing this piece of land to redevelop and hence residents claim this slum issue has cropped up.

“Why residents of non affected part came in support is because today they are talking about 4 acres after this they will target whole of Koliwada,” said Worlikar.