Mumbai: 86-year-old woman rescued from garbage-filled home

Maniben Savla won't be forced to live in a house full of trash anymore. The ailing 86-year-old was rescued from her house, filled with heaps of garbage in Mulund (west).

Eight trucks were required to clear the debris, which were piling in the house for about eight years, police said yesterday. Maniben lives in the 500-sq.ft home with her children: two daughters and two sons. While the sons work at a local market, the daughters - Hema and Jayshree - are supposedly mentally challenged.

As sanitation workers clean out the trash-filled home, Maniben Savla is carried out on a stretcher. The garbage was carried away in 8 trucks

The trash allegedly piled up in the house because of Maniben's daughters. They would go out and beg and bring home scraps they accumulated throughout the day. The garbage had grown into several heaps spread across the flat to such an extent, that it blocked the front door.

Maniben was rescued from the trash pile because of her society members and a local BJP member, Viral Shah. The society members told Shah about the foul smell emanating from the Savla's ground floor home.

He then called the police control room on Monday, after which the cops came to the housing society. Prior to contacting Shah, the housing society had written two letters to the BMC's T ward in February and April this year. However, the garbage went unchecked until the cops came in.

Shocking sight
When cops entered the house, they were greeted surprised to find an old woman lying on a bed amid the huge heaps of garbage.

"When we entered the house, we were aghast to find heaps of debris in three rooms. Most shockingly, an 86-year old woman was lying on a bed in the middle of the debris," said an officer at Mulund police station.

He added, "We could not find the way to enter the rooms that were blocked with debris all around. We had to break the door and only then we could enter," the officer said. "We scolded the woman's children for putting their mother's life at risk and asked municipal officers to clear the debris that seems to have piled up since the last 8 to 10 years."

"Eight trucks of garbage were cleared in total from the house. After the clearing operation was completed, we asked the society to call a pest control team to clean the surroundings," he said. PSI Ankush Waghmare of the Mulund police station said, "Maniben has been admitted to the Agrawal Hospital."

Though police have not registered any offence against the Savla family, who had piled on the garbage inside their house, they gave a strict warning to them not to indulge in such an act in the future, he added.