If the shanties were allowed to spring up yesterday, they have a right to exist today. If the administration does not want to legalise a zopdi tomorrow, it is its own responsibility to prevent it from coming up today. The proliferation of slums to such a large extent is the proof of the connivance of the authorities or a testimonial of the dereliction of their duty. It is the scandalous failure of the successive governments of Maharashtra and the Brihad-Mumbai Mahanagar Palika to forestall the encroachment on public places. It was the obligation of the administration to freeze the number of existing hutments at some point of time; to make determined effort to prevent the new ones from springing up again and then go about rehabilitating the existing ones.
It is a tragic reality that after six decades of nation building the rural India has no means of livelihood to offer to her villagers. They are obliged to walk into the filth of the cities’ slums to earn their bread. They finance this journey by selling their valuables or by borrowing. On their way to this el dorado they are exploited by so many governments, quasi governments and non-government “agencies”.
As long as our villagers have to wobble to cities for livelihood, they have to be tolerated. Let there be no cut-off dates.
Dr.Mookhi Amir Ali
Mumbai, M.S.