MUMBAI: Residents of Jai Bhim Nagar in Powai, left homeless after their informal settlement was demolished by the BMC on June 6 despite a GR banning demolitions during the monsoon months, wrote to the BMC on Tuesday demanding four water tankers water per day and medical examinations. , fumigation and lighting of the sidewalk on which they are currently located.

Noting that the Bombay High Court has found the demolitions carried out by BMC illegal and ordered that an FIR be lodged against the officials behind these demolitions, the letter addressed to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani comes after several failed attempts to make call to the S district office for fundamental reasons. services.

“The BMC sends a measly 1,000 liters per day, one tanker for the entire colony located on the trail, unlike the 40-90 liters they give every day to the slums and the 150 liters given to other residents ” said Adarsh ​​​​Priyadarshi of the Jai Bhim Nagar Bachao Samiti. The letter also said that the BMC has also stopped the twice-weekly fumigation carried out on the road, leading to an increase in mosquito-spread diseases like malaria, typhoid and jaundice in the basti. The public toilets installed by BMC for residents are also in dire need of cleaning, leaving residents with no option but to opt for open defecation, increasing their vulnerability to diseases. Tangentially, they also demanded that BMC conduct medical examination of residents.

“On one side, a 90-foot road becomes completely dark at night, which has led to cases where women have been groped and domestic animals have been killed,” Priyadarshi added. “We requested the BMC to provide street lighting in these areas, but they said the land was private and hence they could not provide it.”

The response received on other points was positive, according to residents and Samiti, with a medical camp organized, cleaning of toilets carried out, fumigation carried out and the BMC assuring them four tankers of water every day. “It remains to be seen whether they will actually follow through on our requests, as they had rejected our previous requests. They should not think that they are doing us a favor, when it is because of their illegal demolitions that residents end up on the paths and on the roads.”

HT’s calls for BMC’s response went unanswered.