Residents up in arms as civic body declares Christian Gaon a ‘slum’, and its denizens as ‘slum-dwellers’, telling them to participate in a biometric survey
Christian Gaon in Kurla West on March 7. According to residents, the settlement’s history spans over half a millennium and is deeply connected to Mumbai’s heritage
Exactly a month after Bandra’s Chimbai village erupted in protests over a notice designating the settlement as a slum, Kurla’s Christian Gaon, a historic gaothan, has now risen in opposition to a public notice recently pasted in L ward, which categorises the area as a slum and states that a biometric survey of all “slum dwellers” will be carried out by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). The East Indian community has condemned the notice, asserting that they will not permit any survey that misrepresents their village as a slum.
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Dated February 28, 2025, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) notice, affixed to one of the walls in Christian Gaon, states: "A biometric survey of all slum dwellers within the jurisdiction of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is being conducted by the SRA through its appointed external survey agencies." The notice further mentions that, following a meeting held on February 11, 2025, at the CEO-SRA office, it was decided that a biometric survey and GIS mapping of structures within the cluster would be conducted from March 10. The survey will involve the numbering of structures, Geographic Information System mapping of affected areas, fingerprint collection, photographic documentation and detailed data collection on each resident.
The BMC notice dated February 28, 2025, which was affixed to a wall in the area. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Outraged by this classification, community leaders held an emergency meeting late Friday evening to plan their course of action against the BMC and SRA.
The East Indian community, which has fought for decades to safeguard the identity of their Gaothans, sees this move as yet another attempt to erase their heritage and pave the way for outside interests.
Gleason Barretto, founder trustee, Mobai Gaothan Panchayat (MGP) told mid-day, “We strongly demand the recall and cancellation of the BMC/ SRA public notice.”
He added, “Old Kurla Christian Village has a rich history spanning over 500 years and is deeply connected to the heritage of Mumbai. Gaothans were village settlements on higher ground where the East Indian Samaj lived together in unity and safety. The East Indians of Old Kurla Gaothan, also known as Christian Goan, were the rightful owners of the surrounding lands, including areas now occupied by Mumbai International Airport, Kohinoor City, Phoenix Market City, and BKC. Many of these plots were either taken away under various laws or encroached upon by migrants.”
Theresa Correa, Christian Gaon resident
“As the original inhabitants and rightful owners of Kurla Village, it is deeply saddening and unjust that an SRA notice has been issued, classifying our historic village as a slum. I, as a resident of Old Kurla Gaothan, Christian Gaon, strongly object to this misrepresentation and the injustice it brings upon the Bhumiputra East Indian Samaj of Mumbai.”
“On behalf of the Old Kurla villagers, we demand the immediate withdrawal of this notice and the recognition of Old Kurla Gaothan as a gaothan, along with its proper demarcation alongside all 189 gaothans in Mumbai,” said Barretto, a resident of Christian Gaon.
Members of the East Indian community meet in Kurla on Friday evening to come up with a strategy to counter the alleged attempt to label Christian Gaon a slum. Pic/Jacob Gomes
Watchdog acts
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta of the Watchdog Foundation wrote to the municipal commissioner, chief minister of Maharashtra and the chief secretary, objecting to the notice. The letter reads: “Villages like Kurla Gaothan are traditional village settlements of the original inhabitants of Mumbai, the East Indians, and the land in question has independent property records (Tenure A), distinguishing it from unauthorised slums. The move directly contradicts the assurance given by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Assembly, where he stated that gaothans would retain their distinct identity and be preserved at all costs.”
The letter also points out that Mumbai's Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034 explicitly recognise gaothans and provide them with separate redevelopment guidelines. “Kurla gaothan has also been marked as a gaothan in Mumbai’s Draft Development Plan 2034, which has already been sanctioned by the state government. Despite this, the SRA is attempting to misclassify the area under slum rehabilitation, which is not only misleading but also a gross misrepresentation of the facts,” the letter reads.
Further, the letter also mentions that the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act, 1971, defines slums based on inadequate sanitation, overcrowding and unsafe structures, none of which apply to Kurla gaothan.
“Declaring it a slum would be a factual misrepresentation, branding legitimate landowners as “slumlords” and equating them with encroachers. We condemn such labelling; it is blasphemous (sic) and a deliberate act of injustice against Mumbai’s indigenous communities,” the letter further reads, giving references of past government efforts to protect gaothans, specifically citing the Dinesh Afzalpurkar Committee formed in 2003. Pimenta points out that this panel recommended modifications for gaothan redevelopment, which were approved by the BMC and state government in 2005 and 2008 respectively. The state’s gaothan redevelopment policy, approved in 2008, allowed an FSI between 1.5 and 2 for redevelopment, yet this policy was never implemented due to vested [builders’] interests, the letter claims.
Builder lobby influence?
Pimenta's letter alleges that the current attempt to declare Christian Gaon a slum is driven by the builder lobby’s influence, as it seeks to encroach upon these heritage lands under the pretext of development.
The community first objected to the ‘slum’ tag in 2013 while the Development Plan (DP) was being drafted. In 2015, community members claimed that the draft released then still categorised all gaothans and koliwadas as slums.
A resident of Christian Gaon, Jacob Gomes, said, “This is ridiculous. Nowhere in the public notice have they mentioned a specific area to be surveyed; they have clearly written ‘Christian Gaon’. How can gaothans still be classified as slums? We are now reaching out to elected representatives, urging them to intervene, and we are actively protesting this move by the SRA and BMC.”
Another community member, Theresa Correa, who is also the MGP sarpanch of Christian Gaon, said, “Year after year, the East Indian community has been fighting for the rights of indigenous people. We have repeatedly opposed this ploy of tagging and labelling our gaothans as slums, yet it continues to happen. After so many years, we are still facing the same issue. We will not tolerate this.”
OfficialSpeak
“Forty-five shanties are recorded as slums in the government’s records; we are surveying only these,” said a BMC official from L ward. “The survey does not cover all of Christian Goan and will be conducted as per SRA guidelines,” the official added.
SRA CEO Dr Mahendra Kalyankar said, “We do not survey gaothans and koliwadas. If there is a BMC notice, we will have a word with the civic body.”
189
No. of gaothans in Mumbai
‘Mumbai’s heritage being sold off’
Taking to X on Friday evening, Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad termed the alleged classification of Christian Goan as a slum “yet another attempt by the Fadnavis-led BJP government to target Mumbai’s Bhumiputras”. In a scathing statement, she accused the government of being builder-friendly and corrupt, alleging that it is determined to sell off Mumbai’s heritage piece by piece. She also stated that residents were shocked to see the notice, following a similar “failed attempt in Bandra’s Chimbai gaothan last month, where citizens successfully resisted”.
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