[sustran] re: fwd: Urgent! Bombay rail slum evictions appeal

[SUSTRAN Network Secretariat]

Dear sustran-discussers,
Highly organised people power seems to have won the day in Mumbai. The
railway authorities have been forced to back down after tens of thousands
of people shut down the train services in the city by lying down on the
tracks!! See forwarded messages below.
Paul
---------------------------------

From: achrsec at email.ksc.net
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 17:30:15 +0700
To: urujdr at pc.jaring.my
Subject: From Tom in BKK

Dear Folks,

Good news!  There's been a happy ending to the demolition crisis in the
Bombay railway slums.  The demolitions have been stopped and the 1,500
families who had their houses illegally bulldozed by the Railways are going
to get alternative land.  

There's a lot more information about the crisis on the Shack Dwellers
International (SDI) web site :  http://www.dialogue.org.za

And I'm adding below a more detailed note that just came from Joel Bolnick,
at People's Dialogue in South Africa, which explains how the federations in
Bombay responded to the demolitions and turned the crisis to their
advantage.    

Subject: Update on demolitions in Mumbai
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 

Dear all
  
There has been a dramatic change of fortunes for the railway slum dwellers
of Mumbai.
  
Last week over 1500 families, who have lived for many years along the
central and western lines, were forcefully evicted when the National
Railway Authorities defied State law and ignored the resettlement efforts
of their local counterparts in the city.
  
The Railways acted on the pretext that they were clearing illegal
structures that had been erected after 1/1/95. (Maharashtra State Law
decrees that no slum dwelling constructed after that date may be demolished
without alternative land being provided). However the railway authorities
brought in their demolition squads and police protection with the clear
intention of destroying all informal structures along the city lines.
  
After several attempts by the Secretary of State to normalise the situation
had been thwarted by the heavy-handedness of the railways the demolitions
were finally brought to a halt  - five days after they had started. 
  
Throughout the crisis NSDF and SPARC, with support from the State
Government and Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Mumbai, had tried to ensure
that only illegal structures - those constructed after 1/1/95 - were being
demolished. However the Railways ignored this intervention. Whenever NSDF
leaders or other government officials were absent from the scene wholesale
demolitions occurred.
  
The Railways apparently were under the impression that NSDF and SPARC had
been painted into a corner because of their ongoing negotiations with the
authorities (including the railways) around rehabilitation.  However NSDF
members, in a move reminiscent of Gandhi's passive resistance to British
Rule, responded to the demolitions by mobilising tens of thousands of its
members to shut down the train services in the city by lying down on the
tracks. On Friday SPARC and NSDF broke off all negotiations with the State,
city and railway authorities.
  
On Saturday an emergency meeting was convened by the State Secretary. In a
dramatic turnaround the meeting resolved that all demolitions were to stop
immediately. The State Government also decreed that in future the
responsibility to monitor the hutments along the railway line and any act
of demolition was to be removed from the hands of the railway authorities.
The monitoring of the hutments is now the sole responsibility of SPARC and
NSDF. At the same meeting an 8 hectare piece of land was identified to
accommodate those families whose hutments had been illegally demolished.
NSDF was given the responsibility to manage the resettlement and to oversee
the construction of formal housing. There will be continuing negotiations
to ensure reparations for those families whose hutments were illegally
demolished.
  
So, as things stand at present, a disastrous week, has had a positive
outcome. How did a vicious and illegal demolition turn into a victory for
the railway slumdwellers in the city? Such a dramatic turnaround would not
have occurred had the slumdwellers been weak or disunited. By coming
together in savings collectives and by federating these collectives to
thousands of others throughout India (and many more throughout the world)
the Railway Slumdwellers Federation was able to withstand the assault from
the state and simultaneously turn its initial defeats into positions of
strength. Eventually the authorities were forced to realise that the
slumdwelllers had a massive following throughout the city, strong
international support. Most important of all it became clear to the State
Government that the Federation was the only institution in the city that
had a workable plan to find a win/win solution for the slumdwellers and the
authorities.

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
73 Soi Sonthiwattana 4,
Ladprao Road, Soi 110,
Bangkok 10310,  THAILAND
Tel (662) 538-0919    
Fax (662) 539-9950
E-mail:  achrsec at email.ksc.net