New slum takes root on Bandra railway land as WR looks away

A slum colony that could rival the scale of clusters of shanties in Bandra East is quietly mushrooming on railway premises under the nose of Western Railway WR The abandoned fifth and sixth railway corridor is being readied for occupation with makeshift cloth tents dotting Ghas Bazar Road near the Bakar Kasai Kabristan and Hindu cremation groundWhen midday visited the spot between the WR main lines and Bandra Terminus last week to check the status of the abandoned alignment the entire stretch seemed to have been progressively and systematically encroachedThe tracks and overhead equipment had been dismantled after the completed project had to be scrapped just two hours before the scheduled inauguration in 2018 Since then the land had been lying unusedEven as Railways and the state administration are proving incompetent regarding the proliferation of multistorey slums and the deplorable quality of entryexits at Bandra East the new colony will prove to be a nuisance to commuters visiting Bandra Terminus in the near future and most of the station access is porous and passes through the numerous slum coloniesThe settlement along the abandoned fifth and sixth railway corridor in Bandra East PicsRajendra B AklekarThe scrapped alignmentIt was in June 2015 a freshly laid new 2km corridor complete in all respects passed through this land The two lines were supposed to be a part of the ambitious fifth and sixth line project that sought to segregate suburban and mail express trains The corridor passing through an old road connecting Bandra East close to the burial ground was about to be inaugurated but there were strong protests with locals saying that their ageold path to the burial ground would permanently shut down Railway authorities tried to convince the locals by holding meetings with trustees and local politicians but it did not work out The locals of Naupada Ghas Bazar area had been using the approach road to the burial ground for a long time and refused to allow it to be closed down Eventually the lines were scrapped and the overhead wires dismantled The authorities have been considering a realignment but this hasnrsquot met with much successMeanwhile makeshift huts tents and mats are being laid now to demarcate land on the spotOfficialSpeakWR Chief Public Relations Officer Vineet Abhishek told midday action would be initiated against the encroachments near Bandra Terminus ldquoWe will ensure the railway land is protected by fencing it up The departments concerned always take continuous action against all such encroachersrdquo he said2 KMLength of corridor comprising fifth and sixth lineslsquoThis is just shocking Railways shouldnrsquot leave its land unattendedrsquoRajiv SingalMember WR Mumbairsquos Divisional Railway Usersrsquo Consultative CommitteeldquoRailways is responsible for eliminating encroachments on its land This takeover of land in Bandra East cannot happen without the involvement of railway personnel Going by past experiences Railways should have been more careful about protecting its own land The Railway Protection Force is there for this They should put up fences and walls and monitor the use of land The price of land in Mumbai is beyond imagination and such land grab attempts should always be addressed promptlyrdquoShailesh GoyalFormer member National Railway Users Consultative CommitteeldquoThis the occupied land is clearly and categorically railway property We do not know what the RPF has been doing if the encroachments have reached this scale This can prove dangerous for passengers at Bandra Terminus It will become very difficult to reclaim the land once the entire colony springs up and the residents claim legal status Railways need to demarcate zones and deploy RPF personnel to each of them Railways should use the land for its own purposes and not leave it unattended like thisrdquoAnil GalgaliRTI activistldquoThis is quite shocking Railways should be more careful Thousands of such encroachment cases are pending in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the Railwaysrsquo legal team has been losing them consistently With fresh encroachments happening like this a very dangerous trend is being set Railways must act now or it will lose crucial and prime land next to Bandra Terminusrdquo