Curation Team
MUMBAI: State govt will make efforts to ask Bombay high court to allow slum rehabilitation on a section of slum-occupied forest land, and the remainder of the area that becomes vacant would be used for forest regeneration, CM Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. He was responding to questions on postpaid smart meters to record electricity consumption during a calling attention motion in the state legislative council.
BJP’s Pravin Darekar pointed out that a large number of slum households between Goregaon and Dahisar and at Thane are settled on forest land, including private forest land. These households, he said, for years are deprived of basic facilities, like electricity, as these cannot be allowed on forest land. Urging govt to remove the forest designation tag as there are only human habitation, Darekar pointed out that a resolution for the same has already been passed at the District Planning Committee, and reminded Fadnavis of a recent meeting on this issue.
Fadnavis responded that state govt would formulate a policy requesting the court to allow slum rehabilitation on a portion of these forest lands and the remainder of the land that becomes vacant would be used for forest regeneration.
Bombay high court is currently hearing a PIL seeking an implementation of its 1997 orders to remove all slums from forest land. There are around 80,000 slumdwellers on forest land from Goregaon to Dahisar in the western suburbs alone. In the eastern suburbs, there are slums on forest land at Thane, Mulund, and Bhandup.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s chief conservator, in an affidavit before HC, has informed that the Thane collector has identified 10 parcels of land in the district for slum rehabilitation.
BJP MP Gopal Shetty was the first to oppose the relocation demanding the slumdwellers be rehabilitated in a BMC PAP project on a 10-acre plot at Dahisar. Subsequently, Mumbai suburban MLAs passed a resolution opposing the relocation.
