Form panel for Deonar rehab, government told

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the state government to form a high-level committee comprising experts to work on the process of rehabilitation of around 18,000 tenants who are living at Rafiq Nagar slum in Deonar, who have been living without any water supply, sanitation facility and electricity for years.

The committee will comprise officials not below the rank of Joint Secretary, from the urban development department, the public housing department of the BMC and an officer designated by the chief executive officer of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.

A division bench of chief justices Mohit Shah and DY Chandrachud has given the committee a month’s time to submit a report. The directions were given while hearing a public interest litigation filed by an NGO.

Advocate Gayatri Singh informed the court that there were only three health posts for 6 lakh people residing in the slums around the Deonar dumping ground. “They are provided with absolutely no civic facilities. They are living in a situation that is unheard of,” she said.

The judges were also shocked to note, from an affidavit filed by an officer from the Women and Child Development Department, that there were no sanitation facilities in the area, and the residents don’t even have firm ground beneath their feet.

According to the affidavit, 95% of the population lives on the dumping ground, and they are required to put either plastic sheets or tadpatri on the ground in order to prevent seepage.

A BMC official, during the hearing, informed the court that the corporation has already taken up closing down the Deonar dumping ground. He added that the process would take almost seven to eight years. The court has adjourned the hearing for a month.