MUMBAI: A week after their electricity and water connections were cut off, the BMC and police evacuated the residents of Dsouza Mansion in Santacruz East, to prepare for the building’s demolition. The doors to the homes and toilets and most of the toilets were demolished on Tuesday. With nowhere to go, the residents planned to spend the night on the building’s premises.
“The residents had asked for two more days on Friday, and we gave them four,” said Swapnaja Kshirsagar, assistant commissioner of H East ward, adding that earlier notices were served on February 5, March 11 and March 22. “As the residents did not leave themselves, the police are evacuating them.” The BMC acted on a Bombay high court petition questioning why it had not demolished the building rated C1 or dangerously dilapidated.
When HT visited the spot, the residents, a mix of children, adults and senior citizens, were sitting in the building’s compound in the midst of their packed belongings. “The police put me in a chair and carried me down despite our protests,” said Matilda Creado, a bedridden 76-year-old. “They did not have the compassion to realise that it will take us more than two days to clear our homes and find houses on rent.”
Trupti D’Souza was concerned about her children’s ongoing final exams. “For a week now, they’ve been studying without lights and fans,” she said. “Do I worry about their studies or the state of our homes? Now we’re essentially homeless, and I can’t even take them to my relative’s place, as it is too small and too far from their school.”
The residents of this gaothan building owned by an East Indian Catholic family had begun to look for rented accommodation from the previous week, but not all were successful. Rents quoted, up to ₹40,000 for a 1BHK, were too steep for them, and not many houses were available at such short notice. As most of the residents are part of an extended joint family whose forefathers owned the plot, the move also brings with it the pangs of separation.
After their electricity and water was cut off last Monday, the residents attempted to approach the Bombay high court once again to obtain a stay on the demolition but were unable to get an urgent hearing. Cases they have filed concerning Dsouza Mansion are already in two courts, as HT had reported last Wednesday: one of alleged forgery by which a builder took over their building and another contesting their building’s status as C1/dilapidated. The residents have structural audits categorising their building as C2B or needing major repairs.
The latest petition, on which the BMC is taking the demolition action, has been filed by the builder Pure Value Infra Venture, who claims to be the building’s landlord.
“When the BMC reps came on Friday, threatening to throw us out of our homes, we pleaded for a few more days, at least till the kids’ exams got over,” said Denis D’Souza, who has been busy in the court battles. “We told them in writing that we would demolish the building ourselves so that we can keep our ancestral land with us.”
With Hemant Khandekar, the Shiv Sena head of the cooperative housing society wing in Maharashtra offering legal help, the residents plan to once again approach the HC on Wednesday. “If the building is to be demolished, we will do it ourselves to protect our land,” said Denis. “But we first want to exhaust all measures to save our homes.”
