Post-2000 slums to be demolished: Deshmukh

State adopts last-in first-out demolition model

The slum demolition drive in Mumbai, which has been opposed by even some Congressmen, would continue and target only those slums which have come up after the cutoff date of 2000, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said today.

Talking to reporters after an hour-long meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he also said the state government would work out a programme of action for those affected and covered under the manifesto commitments and keeping in mind the CMP of the UPA government at the Centre.

Replying to questions, Deshmukh said the party as also the NCP in their joint manifesto had given 2000 as the cutoff date for regularisation of slums and his government has directed the municipal corporation of Mumbai to demolish only such slums which have came up later.

Asserting that his government would focus on the human side of development while carrying out allround development of the city to improve the quality of life, he said the action programme would be only for rehabilitation of those slums which have come up before 2000.

Deshmukh, however, dismissed suggestions that the controversy in the party on the issue was aimed at destabilsing his government. "Not at all...Where does the question arise. (the central leadership has been) very fair to me. They have given me the opportunity for the second time".

Deshmukh, who was accompanied by the Mumbai regional congress president Gurudas Kamat during the meeting with gandhi, saw nothing wrong in partymen approaching her on the issue."She is our leader and whatever she says is our final direction".

Our Regional Bureau adds: Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the demolition drive, which in its first phase witnessed over 85,000 illegal shanties erected post January 1, 1995 being demolished, would continue operating on a last-in first-out method (LIFO) in the next phase.

Deshmukh said: "I had sensitised the civic department to follow the LIFO method, while effecting demolitions so that illegal slums erected in 2005 would be demolished first followed by those erected in 2004, 2003, 2002 going back to 1995."

Deshmukh conceded that while the 85,000 demolished slums may have included around 8,000 legitimate (pre-January 1, 1995 constructed) shanties, there was adequate redressal mechanisms in place to ensure these tenement owners were rehabilitated in free houses sponsored by the state government.

"There is an existing law on pre-1995 slums in Mumbai city that was enacted by the state government. This law of the land also stipulates that slums that have come up in the city after 1995 are illegal and the construction of these is a cognizable offence. Any change in this (read including slums up to 2000) would necessitate an amendment to the existing Act."

According to senior secretariat sources if the Congress high command decides to offer free housing to even those slums constructed up to 2000, it would entail a Rs 39,000 crore additional burden on the state's tax payers for constructing free houses for slum dwellers.

"There are 13 lakh tenements constructed in the city in the interim period between 1995 and 2000. At a cost of Rs 3 lakh for every new home as well as other civic amenities for each of these 13 lakh families the cost to the tax payer of Mumbai would not only amount to a whopping Rs 39,000 crore, but also impose an additional congestion load upon the citizenry that commutes daily to and fro between home and workplace," an official said.