SION KOLIWADA
The indigenous Koli or fisherfolk community of Mumbai are the original inhabitants of the city. Sion Koliwada is one of the community's oldest settlements.
On May 31, 2012
This video was shot by a resident of Sion Koliwada. Police attacks and arrests 25 women and a man who were peacefully protesting the illegal demolition of a house in the koliwada.
Sion Koliwada: Land of Mumbai’s oldest residents under immediate threat
Posted on June 1, 2012
Sion Koliwada is a settlement of the indigenous Koli or fisherfolk community of Mumbai. They are the original inhabitants of the city. A GR from 1939 proves that the Kolis have been living here since time immemorial.
GR proving Kolis were inhabitants prior 1939
Since 1996, many developers namely Ajmera, Jai Bhawani, Mangalmurti, Jay Kay Developers, Pilot Constructions Pvt Ltd approached the residents with plans to redevelop the land but were not successful in doing so. Sahana Groups of Companies - builder Sudhakar Shetty approached the residents in 2006 with plans to redevelop the land. When he did not get the requisite 70% consent, he with society committee members & MCGM officials forged signatures on the consent letters keeping villagers in dark. On one consent letter dated 20/7/1999, is the signature of Eknath Koli who had died two years ago in 1997. Another consent letter has the signature of Lilabai Vishnu Patil, signed in English, even though Lilabai is actually illiterate and has only ever used thumb prints for all her official documents.
Consent letter with forged signature- Eknath Koli
Death certificate of Eknath Koli
Consent letter with forged signature- Lilabai V Patil
Lilabai Patil thumb impression (proves that her signature was forged)
In 2006, Sudhakar Shetty’s construction company, Sahana Developers, demolished two chawls in the Koliwada, previously that were the classrooms of Municipal School & now from few years are the Education Department’s staff quarters. The land used to house a primary school which was later used as 7 residential quarters for teachers. On this land, the builder constructed one rehabilitation building for the Koliwada to shift into. How he got permission to demolish the chawls and build on the Education Department’s land is a mystery even to the BMC. An RTI filed by the residents of the Koliwada demanding to know where the teachers were moved, found the BMC clueless.
On the 29th of May 2012, 60 policemen accompanied a BMC demolition squad to the koliwada. People stood in front of their houses to protest this illegal demolition. Police Officer Anant Rahate physically attacked Sunil Koli, a resident of the Koliwada and ordered his police force to strip women off their sarees if they stood in the way.
Police attack on May 31st Click for video
Frank Fernandes, Nelson Fernandes, Jaywanti Shivkar, Kalpesh Shivkar, Mayuri Shivkar, Indira Shivkar and Sunil Koli, along with Medha Patkar were dragged into the police vans and taken away to the Sion police station. The police refused to take an FIR on the two cops’ misbehaviour. Residents of slums from Golibar, Ambujwadi and Kannamwar Nagar came to the police station to support the Koliwada folk. Arguments continued with the police until 8.30 yet no FIR was registered. DCP Zone IV Mr. Keshav Patil, ACP Zone IV Rajdoot Rajpute, Senior Police Inspector Mr. Motiram Kasar, Ward Officer Mr. Kurade, Rent Collector and other 2 MCGM officials with representatives of koliwada, Medha Patkar, Ujwala Patil and other representatives of koli community and representatives of East Indian Community and so on. When everyone present there in meeting questioned the MCGM officials about the demolition notice for the same. It was accepted by Ward Officer Mr. Kurade that they had carried out demolition without notice. Hence, all the villagers and the representatives present therein asked to restore the structure as soon as possible as the case regarding the same house was pending in the High Court as well as the monsoon was soon to begin. Looking into the matter Mr. Kurade accepted that they would give compensation for the same but it would take some time. For which the villagers present told that we villagers would built Kalpesh Shivkar’s house as soon as possible, MCGM may pay compensation as early as possible as the family will be on road under open sky in the coming monsoon which was not objected by anyone at that time.
On 30th May 2012, the community got together to rebuild Kalpesh Shivkar’s house. The builder had in the meantime gathered about 50 of his security people and along with the police, tried preventing the people from rebuilding their house. The villagers peacefully agitated against the illegal demolition. Two police vans and about 40 police people stayed on the whole night at the koliwada. Even the ACP, a senior police officer, sat outside the Croma store across the road till much past midnight on 29th & 30th May 2012. From 29th May 2012, many villagers were sitting peacefully on the protest against the illegal action carried on the house of their brother villager. If there was any objection then the police should have stopped the villagers from bringing the construction materials itself on 29th & 30th May 2012, but it was not the case.
The next day on the 31st of May 2012, at about 5 pm, the police arrived with more SRP again. Women from the Koliwada, Ambujwadi and Kannamwar Nagar were sitting on a peaceful protest when the police started to drag them away, many by their hair, into the waiting police vans. Madhuri Shivkar, Indira Shivkar, Jaywanti Koli, Pauline Nelson Fernandes, Komal Shivkar, Nanda Shivkar, Chitra Shivkar, Radhabai Ghode, Jaya Kharat, Kasabai Kondiram Ghode, Lalitabai Dhoble, Salma Sheikh, Sindhubai Sonawane, Vijaya Keny, Mayuri Shivkar, Dnyaneshwari Shivkar, Vrushali Harekar, Manju Lubhana, Ganga Lubhana, Sangita Kharat, Sumitrabai Dhondiba Kamble, Vimal Dhoble, Laxmi Kature, Munni Sheikh, Sangita Misal from Koliwada & Kannamwar Nagar and Jamil Bhai from Ambujwadi were arrested and taken to Sion Police Station. These 25 people were charged with Section 143, 147, 149, 152, 332, 353, 504 & 506. Madhuri Shivkar, a resident of the koliwada had put out a call for help on Swara the night before, was also arrested. Madhuri Shivkar was additionally charged with Section 447 and 34 and many more sections in two more CR framed on the same day.
List of people arrested
The police station gates were locked and no one was allowed in. There were reports that the women were thrashed and although no one was allowed inside, a police van with the arrested went to the hospital. Among the arrested is Munni Sheikh of Kannamwar Nagar whose 6-month-old child has been left without her mother for over 24 hours. Munni was also beaten inside the police station.
The hearing at Kurla Court took place on 1st June at 3 pm and they have been put under judicial custody for the next 3-4 days.
Last stand at Sion Koliwada — where the spectre of demolition looms
Demolitions in Sion Koliwada behind Cinemax at Sion in Mumbai on Sunday.
Koli community — original inhabitants of what eventually became Mumbai — now confined to small colonies
‘Sion Koliwada' is in a state of siege. A strip of road separates the empowered and the debased as the spectre of demolition hangs like a Damocles' sword over the 2000-strong traditional fishing community, the Kolis.
As police vans keep an ominous vigil on their quarry, families here are galvanised into frenetic activity, pasting pamphlets, inking their weather-beaten walls with slogans that cry out: “No permission for the builder or his minions to trespass our land.” The original inhabitants of what eventually became Mumbai, the Koli community is now confined to small colonies. The residents of Sion Koliwada in central Mumbai today rue their fate as victims of classic civic corruption.
Since May 29, the colony has witnessed police action and some of their residents are in jail on charges of rioting. Since 1996, this 14,000 square metre area, which houses 18 chawls, has caught the covetous eye of promoters and builders with notions of ‘redevelopment' uppermost in their minds. Residents allege that builders, M/s Bawa and M/s Jay Kay, attempted to oust their community by getting their ‘redevelopment' project sanctioned by submitting forged written consents of the original residents to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
As per Slum Rehabilitation Authority guidelines, a minimum of 70 per cent of eligible slum dwellers in a slum pocket must come together to form a cooperative housing society for the implementation of a Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (SRS). Information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act reveals that the promoters resorted to all-out forgery to get their project sanctioned by the BMC, typical of many slum redevelopment schemes in the city. For instance, Eknath Koli of Koliwada, who passed away on September 3, 1997, signed his consent letter on July 20, 1999, two years after his death. Likewise, Lilabai Patil, an illiterate woman, seems to have given her consent with a signature in English.
The builder’s claim that they had obtained the necessary consents from residents who had formed the ‘Shiv Koliwada Co-operative Housing Society.' However, residents claim that members of this society committee were builders' henchmen and that no formal talks had taken place between the builders and the residents.
“We have not seen the face of any of these builders till date. Most of the office-bearers of such societies are hardened history-sheeters in cahoots with the builders,”.
Last Tuesday, BMC authorities, accompanied by two score policemen and goaded on by the builder, stormed the house of Kalpesh Shivkar. When Mr. Shivkar asked the authorities to produce a formal eviction notice, the officials instead stepped aside and let the police take over.
Sixteen-year-old Frank Fernandes, his father Nelson Fernandes and Sunil Koli were beaten and punched inside the police van. After a six-hour detention and hectic meetings, oral assurances were given by the Assistant Commissioner,F/N Ward, MCGM that compensation would be given.
After the first assault on May 29, a day later, the builder and his henchmen struck again. This time, the builder had his private bulldozer. According to witnesses, the police did not flinch in inflicting violence on women, as 25 of them were beaten, dragged and abused continually in foul language. The police allege that most of the instigators hailed from slums in other areas.
Since 2006, the community has been battling a new builder: Sudhakar Shetty of Sahana Developers. The same year, Mr. Shetty and his cohorts demolished two chawls in Koliwada. The chawls were built on government land belonging to the State Education Department and also housed a primary school along with residential quarters for teachers.
“Just how he managed to destroy property on government land is evidence of the nexus among government authorities, police and private builders” . According to builder, the builder proposes to construct three buildings to rehabilitate the 300-odd families currently residing here.
The Kolis have been meted out a raw deal throughout modern history. In 1888, with the British government grabbing their fertile creek-lands, there began an insidious decline in the community's means of livelihood that saw the destruction of traditional Koli vocations such as fisheries, drying fish and weaving nets.
A 1939 resolution (no. 538) passed by the Improvements Committee under the then Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) reserved a plot of land that accommodates the present-day Sion Koliwada which is about approximately 43,000 sq. mtr.
Information obtained under RTI reveals that this ‘redevelopment' project was scuppered in 2001 by the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA), which in a letter told the architects that the builders had failed to obtain the necessary consents of 70 per cent.
Since the assault by the police, fear has frayed the nerves of the residents of Koliwada.
“We have merely followed the instructions given to us by the BMC. The [BMC] authorities had called for police security during demolitions. As far as I know, only a couple of families are opposing rehabilitation,” said Inspector Satish Rathod, the police investigating officer. Mr. Rathod further denied that the police had resorted to brutality during the drive, claiming that a woman constable was injured by the protesters and had to be admitted to hospital.
Madhuri Shivkar's dwelling stands adjacent to a temple built in 1916, when the Great War was ravaging Europe. Her grandmother Shantabai awaits the return of her three grandchildren who are in custody. “Madhuri and Dnyaneshwari will return in the evening. They've gone out for work, haven't they?” She is soothingly reassured.
But senility hasn't blunted her. She senses something's amiss as she drifts into a gentle sleep.
Outwardly, the Kolis are grinning and bearing it. But it appears that time is running out for the doughty community.
Sion Koliwada razing: Residents cry foul
Tuesday, 6 November 2012 - 8:30am IST | Place: Mumbai
Months after the last demolition drive in Sion Koliwada, a court order to give police protection to construct a fencing boundary wall of G.I. Sheets in the area led to tension between the police and protesting residents on Monday, especially after a contractor of the said builder - Sudhakar Shetty illegally demolished a home.
The police gave protection for the building of a fencing boundary wall of G.I. Sheets across the village despite the residents showing all necessary documents that gave evidence of forged signatures on consent letters. The residents claim that the consent letters for the construction, in fact, were signed by a few people who apparently died long before the issue came up.
The construction of the fencing boundary wall of G.I. Sheets resumed with the police directing the removal of a small tenement where the residents conduct their meetings or watch TV. Following this, the demolition crew started breaking down remnants of the homes already demolished.
But the feathers were ruffled when they removed the door of 85-year-old Rozi Francis Patil’s house which is a disputed structure between the BMC and Patil. When residents protested against its demolition, repeatedly asserting that the police has a high court order that only asks for the building of a fencing boundary wall of G.I. Sheets, the contractors relented and moved away.
However, once the fencing boundary wall of G.I. Sheets was built around Rozi’s home, cutting off her neighbours from view, a contractor namely Thakur ensured it turned into rubble. The assistant commissioner of police, Mr. Rajdoot Rajpute slapped Thakur for the same & however, promised to file a case against him. But no case was filed against Thakur, he was just freed without any case evenafter illegally demolishing Rozy Francis Patil’s house - 85 years old lady who was hospitalized for heart attack.
A Documentary on Sion Koliwada- The Fight For Survival!
on Apr 3, 2014
The need for Human Dignity & Human Justice: at what price?
Development for a few whilst displacing many, is this the true definition of Development?
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