No action taken on CM's order on slum rehab: RTI activist

Despite a report submitted by the Mumbai Slum Improvement Board (MSIB) to Maharashtra government in 2010 about 327 areas being prone to landslides in Mumbai, the government is yet to take an action, revealed a Right to Information (RTI) query.
According to details obtained from the Housing ministry of the state government by RTI activist Anil Galgali, the MSIB in April 2010 had carried out a survey across 25-assembly constituencies in the city, Western and Eastern suburbs, which revealed that over 22,483 hutments in 327 hilly areas were dangerous and needed to be shifted.
Officials from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Mumbai suburban Collectorate based on the survey findings recommended to the state government that 9,657 huts needed shifting on a priority basis, while the remaining could be protected by constructing retaining walls around the hills.

Based on the findings, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in September 2011, had ordered the Urban Development Ministry to prepare an action plan and report the amount of land available for development and for the rehabilitation of the slum dwellers within one month.
Despite the orders from the CM's office 34-month back and a revelation under an RTI query that nearly 260 people have lost their lives and more than 270 have been injured in landslides between 1992 and 2013, the Urban Development ministry is yet to prepare an action plan or implement steps for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers, Galgali said.

The activist in a letter to the CM requested him to take the necessary steps to save the lives of nearly 1.15 lakh people living on the hillsides, especially in the monsoon season.
"It is a shocking fact that despite CM's orders, no action was taken to save the lives. We are following up the issue, which should have been ideally done by the government officials. If an incident of landslide occurs and lives are lost, then a police complaint should be lodged against the officials of the state government," Galgali said.