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| The slums at Versova Beach are unintentionally sanctioned by a combination of laws (see text). The slums of Sagar Kutir on the left are permanent whereas the shacks on the right are only seasonal. Image Google/DigitalGlobe. |
Sagar Kutir in Mumbai's Versova neighborhood is an example of
encroachment on a similarly dangerous area, the beach. Although an environmental
protection program for coastal areas nowadays forbids new permanent
construction closer than 500 meters to the water, many pockets of settlement
still exist within reach of the waves. Sagar Kutir is exposed directly to the
Arabian Sea and houses are occasionally washed away in tropical storms. In
order to protect people, local authorities order inhabitants to leave the
houses that are most at risk and to seek shelter elsewhere. The informal and
the formal sector meet here in a fascinating way. Since the settlements as such
are informal and illegal, but dwellers are protected from eviction by law[1],
authorities are forced to tolerate the erection of temporary shelter on coastal
land. In addition, eviction during monsoon is considered too much a burden on
dwellers and thus never takes place. Migrants use this legal loophole every year.
On the beach therefore, one finds a seasonal presence of farmers besides the
more permanent informal dwellers. As a result, informal settlement in Versova
Beach consists of two pockets: a permanent one with pucca houses (Sagar Kutir) and a seasonal kacca part made of tents. Families who
lose their pucca home in a storm move
to the neighboring kacca area until
the rainy season is over. Then repairs can begin and people move back, or a new
home is found somewhere else.
[1] The 1995 Slum Rehabilitation Act protects from
eviction those who can produce a document proving they lived in the city of
Mumbai before January 1995.
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