Citispace determined to continue fight against diverting open spaces for slum rehab.
Was the bid on the life of city activist Nayana Kathpalia an attempt to scare her off the final hearing of a case relating to slum rehabilitation scheduled for January 23?
Kathpalia, the Churchgate based activist who runs Citispace, had in early 2002 taken up the cause of Mumbai’s open spaces. She, along with members of the Citispace, had filed a PIL in the city high court praying that no slum rehabilitation be allowed under the SRA scheme in the city’s open and public spaces such as parks, gardens, playgrounds, maidans, recreational spaces and no-development zones.
Gautam Patel, the counsel for Citispace, said the attack could not deflect the course of the case. “There will be 10 other people to stand in court for the cause to save the city and there will be ten other NGOs to fight for the same cause,” he said.
The petition does not challenge in-situ slum rehabilitation projects in areas other than public spaces. “The city of Mumbai already suffers from extreme congestion and overcrowding,” the petition had stated.
“A common index to judge the adequacy of open spaces in a city is the ratio of open areas per 1,000 citizens. The ideal ratio is 4 acres per 1000. London scores 4.84 acres and New York, 5.33 acres. In contrast, the situation in Mumbai is dismal -- it has only 0.03 acres of open space available per 1000 while the 1947 Development Plan for Bombay had recommended 4 acres,” the petition had stated.
The PIL has challenged the state government’s policy under the Development Control Rules permitting the diversion of open space to three uses: one third for the slum rehab scheme, one third for free sale and the remaining one third for use as open space.
The PIL also challenges the DCR which stated that if a plot was less than 1,000 square meters and less than 25% of it was encroached upon, the government could undertake its redevelopment to rehabilitate eligible slum dwellers.
On July 31, 2002, a division bench of HC had stayed all new rehabilitation schemes which were to be implemented in open spaces.
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