East Indians hope to not be slumdwellers

Mumbai: With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations’s (BMC) draft DP plan 2034 being approved last month, a large portion of the East Indian community living in Mumbai’s island city and suburbs under the aegis of the Bombay East India Association (BEAI) has speeded up its efforts to ensure that the large number of gaothans in the city do not end up as being shown as slums in the DP 2034. Apart from the BEAI, another group which has positioned itself with politicians under the banner Gaotan Bachao Andolan (GBA) are also trying to garner support to the campaign.

According to advocate Vivian D’Souza, president of BEAI, since the first draft of the DP 2034 was released by the BMC, the association has been trying to get the error of gaothans being deemed as slums rectified. “The East Indian community in the city has set up these gaothans in Mumbai since more than 130 years and they were home to the East Indian community and later for people from other communities too. Hence, BEAI is making efforts to ensure that the gaothans do not lose their identity and character,” said Mr D’Souza.

Gleason Baretto of GBA which also consists of members of the East Indian community shared a similar view and said that the gaothans are not encroachments and hence cannot be termed as slums. “The structures in gaothans are ancestral properties and have been handed down from generations. We are trying to create awareness and safeguard these areas as they are part of Mumbai’s history and culture,” said Mr Baretto.

Though the two organisations are working separately, their agendas are very similar. “We held a meeting recently wherein we discussed the plan of action once the DP is released. We have a three-pronged agenda: challenge the DP norms for gaothans, approach the Slum Rehabilitation Authority and find ways to develop the gaothans and seek the intervention of the state to save the gaothans,” said Mr D’Souza.

Both the groups have said that they would be taking legal recourse in the event of the DP 2034 marking gaothans as slums and appealing to the state to consider these century-old localities as urban villages.

What is a gaothan?

Gaothan is the name given to the villages set up by members of the East Indian community to differentiate themselves from Catholics, who migrated to the city from Mangalore and other parts of western India.