Western Railway tears down shanties near Bandra Terminus

Following mid-day’s report, officials hold demolition drive to arrest progress of ‘soft encroachment’ on abandoned rail corridor. The shanties have been dismantled, with most of the structures being pulled down, though families who were occupying the space and their wares could still be seen at the site

After mid-day wrote about the development of a slum colony on railway land near Bandra Terminus, Western Railway (WR) swung into action on Tuesday. The shanties have been dismantled, with most of the structures being pulled down, though families who were occupying the space and their wares could still be seen at the site. 

Railway workers were also observed removing scrap material from the spot. The slum colony had come up on the abandoned rail corridor that once comprised the fifth and sixth lines on Ghas Bazar land, bypassing the Muslim kabrastan and the Hindu crematorium between the WR main lines and the Bandra Terminus.

“Today, joint demolition work was conducted at the backside of platform 7 along with the boundary wall of Bandra Terminus station area and about 22 ‘soft encroachments’ of unauthorised occupation were removed from railway land with the help of Railway Protection Force and about 15 labourers at around 10.15 am,” a WR spokesperson said.

When mid-day visited the site in the evening, while the structures had been partially removed, most of the families and their wares could be seen under the skywalk.

Even as the Railways and the state administration are proving helpless regarding the proliferation of multi-storied slums and the deplorable quality of entry exits at Bandra East, the beginning of a new colony, equally big would have proved to be a nuisance to the Railways and commuters visiting Bandra Terminus in the near future and most of the station access is porous and passes through the numerous slum colonies.

In June 2015, a freshly laid, new two-kilometre 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 segregated Mumbai's 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. There were strong protests, with locals saying that their age-old path to the burial ground would permanently shut down.

The railway authorities tried to convince the locals by holding meetings with the trustees and local politicians, but it did not work out. The locals of Naupada, Ghas Bazar area in Bandra East, had been using the approach road to the burial ground for a long time and refused permission to the Railways to close it down. The programme was cancelled two hours before the inauguration and the project was cancelled, the lines scrapped and overhead wires dismantled. 
The authorities have been considering a realignment, but nothing has come of this yet.

15
No. of labourers who participated in razing

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