These 49 Mumbai police families have nowhere to go

Building no 135 and 137 in the police colony have been declared as dangerous. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

Despite being declared dangerous to inhabit by the MHADA earlier this year, residents of building number 135 and 137 in Nehru Nagar police colony are still living here, since they have nowhere to go. Senior police officers, who had visited the building, asked the 49 families to apply for alternative residence, but the ones who have applied have received no response yet.

The Mumbai Housing and Development Authority (MHADA), between 1967 and 1970, constructed 19 buildings in Nehru Nagar with 580 flats. Most of these buildings were allotted to the constabulary section of Mumbai Police with 1BHK flats in them. Building no 135 and 137 housing 80 families were declared as dilapidated in 2017 by the MHADA and the Public Works Department (PWD) was responsible for its maintenance. A third-party audit of the building was done by a firm which "sent its report directly to Additional Police Commissioner (East Region) in January 2019 saying that the building needed repairs and it was fit for residents to live in," a senior police officer said.

However, instances of cracks developing in the beams, ceiling collapses were reported. An inspection was then done by MHADA and the families were advised to vacate the building at the earliest. "ACP Lakshmi Gautam visited the buildings and requested residents to vacate them," a senior police officer said.

'Where do we go?'

"We have been asked to vacate the building but they are not telling us where to go. One audit report says the building is repairable and MHADA says it's not, how is it possible?" questioned a constable living here. "In peak monsoon, they are asking us to vacate the residence, they should at least give us an alternative," he added.

Executive Engineer of Kurla region, MHADA, Dilip Garje issued a notice to building number 135 on July 29, saying that its electricity and water connection will be disconnected soon. "Both building are dangerous to live in. I have issued the notice to vacate this building else we have to disconnect electricity and water. We fear if this is not done at the earliest, there might be an accident," said Garje.

"We understand this structure is dangerous. Part of the ceiling fell in my house and fortunately no one was hurt. Neither our officers, nor the MHADA or PWD are telling us what to do and where to go," said an aggrieved wife of a constable.

'Dept against us'

Of the 80 flats in building number 135 and 137, 31 families have vacated their residence. "I am shifting to Badlapur for now. I don't know how my kids are going to manage their school or how I will manage my duty at a south Mumbai police station. But our own department is not keen on saving our lives so I took this decision," a constable told mid-day. Another resident said that the police department's section 8 (which looks after allotment of police quarters) "wasn't working promptly."

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