Call to join Patkar's fight to protect slum-dwellers

Slum Rehabilitation Authority authorises private builders to redevelop slum land. The slum-dwellers are moved into vertical establishments, and the land that is thus freed up, becomes available as a free-sale component in the property market. A This is exploited by builders to practise extortion, fraud and forgery at the ground level to lure societies into signing a deal with them. Mumbai: The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) has given a call to people to join the activists of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan to protest against demolition of slums in Mumbai in the name of slum rehabilitation. Medha Patkar has been on indefinite fast since April 2 to stop forced displacement of slum-dwellers and protect their dwelling rights. NAPM has in a press release alleged that the nexus between the Maharashtra government and builders under the cover of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) in Mumbai has led to lakhs of slum-dwellers struggling for the basic right to a house . SRA authorises private builders to redevelop slum land. The slum-dwellers are moved into vertical establishments, and the land that is thus freed up, becomes available as a free-sale component in the property market. SRA only authorises a house to those people who can show their citizenship until 1995. It also gives the power of go-ahead to the builder if they can attain approval of 70% of the people in a society. These two facts are exploited by the builders to practise extortion, fraud and forgery at the ground level to lure societies into signing a deal with them. In Khar Golibar, 140 acres of land � home to 46 societies and over 26,000 families � has been literally gifted to a single private company � Shivalik Ventures � by invoking a special clause � 3K of the SRA. This clause gives a single builder complete rights to redevelop a large slum without inviting tenders. Six forced demolition drives over the past 1 year led to the societies appealing to Medha Patkar and 'Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao' for help.

Aruna Roy urges Sonia's intervention New Delhi (IANS): Social activist Aruna Roy Thursday sought the help of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi to end the fast undertaken by activist Medha Patkar in Mumbai to protest the demolition of slums. "I want to reiterate the urgency of this matter, given both the democratic imperative and in light of Medha's failing health and thus request your immediate personal intervention in this matter," Aruna Roy said, in a letter to Sonia Gandhi released to the media. According to Roy, union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to intervene in the matter and ensure that slum dwellers are not evicted, in violation of the existing policy of in-situ development and resettlement. "In light of Medha's failing health and the undeniable constitutional and moral imperative to resolve this issue in a democratic manner, I wrote to Chavanji to request that a process of dialogue with Ghar Bachao Andolan be immediately initiated," Roy said in her letter to Sonia Gandhi. Slum demolitions, in violation of the government's policy against forced slum evictions... do incalculable damage to the public perception of the UPA government as an advocate of the "aam aadmi", Roy said in her letter.