Realtors' relocation 'service'

Some of Mumbai's top builders constructing the expensive towers coming up in the suburbs appear to have found a solution of sorts to the city's chronic problem of slum encroachments. These realtors have decided not only to give these upscale towers security within their compounds but also on the pavements around them by putting in a heavy-duty 24-hour guard detail. As a result, encroachers have disappeared overnight from around these buildings. Where do they go? A builder says they supply these "displaced" encroachers with information on other pavements maintained by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The municipal officials, in turn, obligingly turn a blind eye to any encroachment on these pavements, but for a fee of course.