Mumbai, home to dazzling Bollywood stars and billionaire business tycoons, is in the midst of a large-scale infrastructure project that includes highways, metro lines and bridges.
Mumbai: Among the swanky skyscrapers of India’s financial capital Mumbai stand hundreds of dangerously dilapidated buildings threatened with demolition, crowded with families who would rather risk their lives than pay the unimaginably high rents.
When torrential monsoon rains hit the coastal city every year, some of the dilapidated colonial-era buildings collapse — often with heavy loss of life.
“It was like seeing a biscuit crumble after you put it in your tea,” said office worker Vikram Kohli, recalling how he narrowly escaped death when a four-storey building partially collapsed in July.
The city authorities had earmarked the century-old building on the bustling Grant Road in the megacity for repairs three years ago.
The government issued an “evacuation warning” in June, — but residents ignored it.
“No one has evacuated the building,” the state housing authority said.
One passer-by was killed when the building collapsed, four were injured and firefighters had to rescue 13 trapped people.
Vaishnav Narvekar, who ran a simple café on the first floor, said he had “expected” the collapse — just not so quickly.
It was the “worst feeling”, he said.
dangerous and dilapidated
But this is just one case among many in the densely populated city of 20 million.
More than 13,000 buildings need to be “continuously repaired” to prevent collapse, according to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
Of these, almost 850 buildings are classified as “dangerous and dilapidated” and “not recommended for repair”.
Many are apartment blocks where large numbers of people live, suggesting that more than a hundred thousand people could be living in at-risk buildings.
Every year, dozens of people are crushed when buildings collapse, their walls weakened by rainstorms that climate scientists say are getting stronger.
Mumbai, home to dazzling Bollywood stars and billionaire business tycoons, is in the midst of a large-scale infrastructure project that includes highways, metro lines and bridges.
However, the government says its affordable housing budget has been exhausted, so many tenants are determined to stay in unsound dwellings.
our life is here
“Where would we go if we left?” asked one tenant in the suburb of Ghatkopar, who lives in a building classified as “dangerous” and does not want to be named for legal reasons.
“Our lives are here.”
Mumbai has the highest rents in India, with the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment estimated at 40,000 rupees, according to the Global Property Guide.
Top rents can be a dozen times higher.
Property owners complain that restrictive rent control laws mean that some long-term tenants pay ground rents that are far below market rates, leaving them without the funds to invest in repairs.
Tenants fear that landlords will evict them and promise compensation that they then fail to pay.
“Builders who will benefit from the redevelopment must ensure that we are properly compensated,” added the tenant, who pays 800 rupees ($9.50) for a 46-square-metre apartment.
In a three-storey building in Ghatkopar, which is classified as “dangerous”, Jayesh Rambhiya rents a small apartment for around 500 rupees a month.
Rambhiya, who grew up in the building, said he would consider moving out if he was offered compensation, as he would have to pay about ten times that for a similar apartment nearby.
“This is our right,” he said.
no fear
City authorities are offering temporary “transitional housing” to those waiting for their homes to be rebuilt, but space is severely limited.
Sanjeev Jaiswal, deputy director of the MHADA housing department, said they were “almost” full.
Near Grant Road — where the building collapsed in July — is another four-storey apartment block. It is also on the list of the “most dangerous” houses.
Farida Baja, who runs an animal shelter in the building, received an evacuation order in June.
“This is a very stable building,” she says, taking it in her stride that she has not found new accommodation.
“Even if we have to hammer a nail into the wall, it will not go in”
In the meantime, another tenant had obtained a temporary injunction to stop the demolition.
Some residents accuse the developers of worsening the condition of the buildings in order to drive the tenants out.
Local residents are therefore trying to delay the demolition for years by legal means.
Baja believes that the experts are wrong and knocks on the demolished walls with confidence.
“I am not afraid,” she says, “I know the building will not collapse.”