Lost in transit: Residents have given up hope of ever returning to their original homes

In 1975, Deepak Shinde moved to a MHADA transit camp in Vikhroli’s Kannamwar Nagar along with his parents from Byculla. He was two years old then. Now, forty years later, he stays in the same flat that was allotted to his father as transit accommodation. Like Shinde, thousands of residents, who left their original buildings on the assurance that they will return to a redeveloped building, are languishing in transit camps.

It is said that Pratiksha Nagar, in Sion derived its name because of the waiting time for residents at transit camps, who hoped that they would get their homes back some day. Lalita Shirgaonkar came to Pratiksha Nagar in 1979, and is yet to be alloted a flat in her original building — Khandare in Kamathipura’s 5th lane.

“When I came here I was 30 years old, and now I am 70. My children grew up in this transit camp. At times my husband visits the Kamathipura building. Today there is nothing except a ground floor. I was hoping that one day I would reside in the building that belonged to my father,” said Lalita.

Kanta Patil shifted to this transit camp in 1982 from her original home in Kamathipura. “Today when I saw so many people losing their lives in the Hussaini building collapse I could understand why they do not leave and prefer to die with the building. We have been staying here for four decades, and there’s no way to know what has happened to our original building,” said Patil’s son, Rajesh.

While the transit camps at Pratiksha Nagar are still in liveable condition, the ones at Vikhroli are dilapidated and currently stand with the support of bamboo sticks. The homes have no ventilation and recently the authorities attempted to demolish one of the camps but the camp residents objected.

Vinod Sonawane moved to the Vikhroli transit camp along with his sisters in 1996 from Chira Bazaar. Despite the deplorable condition of the camp he is forced to stay put because he has nowhere to go. “I came here three decades ago because the building we were staying in at Chira Bazaar was dilapidated. We are waiting to return to our original homes, but now even this transit camp has been declared dilapidated. Where am I supposed to go? Even my file in MHADA is not traceable. It seems we will spend our entire life in transit camps,” said Sonawane.

Many camp residents have given up their hope of ever returning to their original homes and want the government to rehabilitate them in the same area as their transit camp.

“Now I run an autorickshaw in Vikhroli. My whole life has been spent in Vikhroli. I do not want to go back to Byculla. I have asked the government to rehabilitate us in this area itself,” said Shinde.

Residents like Shakuntala Kargutkar, who reside in the Pratiksha Nagar transit camp since 1978 have refused to move to their original home in Umarkhadi, Sandhurst Road, which has been redeveloped. “The flat being allotted to us in Umarkhadi was on a higher floor, and we didn’t wish to stay there. Our entire life has been spent here. We have given up our claim on that building.”

The government has been mulling on options to give permanent homes to the dwellers of transit accommodation at the place where they currently reside, but no concrete steps have been taken so far.

Allwyn Dias, a former member of MHADA’s Mumbai board said that the successive governments have been unable to instill trust among the residents that once they move to transit camps they will soon get a house in their original building. Hence, people are relenting to leave their buildings even if it is waiting to fall apart, instead of moving to transit camps.

Meanwhile, residents of the BMC transit accommodation are waiting to move back to their homes.

“In the transit camp, we have been given just one room, and there is no separate kitchen or living room,” said a resident, on condition of anonymity, who moved from his original house in Dadar, two years ago, after the BMC demolished it.

According to civic officials, the main reason for delay in redevelopment is due to the demand of residents who want to be accomodated in nearby transit camps. Residents were given homes in transit camps in Mahul but they refused to shift as it was difficult for them to commute to work. “Our children study in Dadar and it is not possible for us to shift there,” he said.

REPAIR BOARD WITHOUT A CHAIRMAN

The Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board (MRRB) of MHADA is responsible for the maintenance of the cessed buildings. According to former minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir, who prior to becoming a minister was the chairman of the MRRB, “The whole department is being run only by the officers. The committee which generally includes members well-versed with the condition of dilapidated buildings doesn’t exist. It’s been three years now, there is neither a chairman nor a committee.”