Encroachment Drive , Citizens & the City!

 

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“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” … Edward R. Murrow

“A government strong enough to give you everything you want is a government strong enough to take from you everything you have.” …  Gerald R. Ford

Edward Roscoe Murrow was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. If Murrow was a media guy, then Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American, the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He also has served as the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and as the 40th vice president of the United States from 1973 to 1974. What I like about the USA is whatever they act in actual leaving that aside, the media & personalities in power speak the same language especially when it’s about governance or democracy & above two quotes are the best example of this attitude of their society!

Ok, the reason for naming (please don’t read as shaming) “Mai Bapp” Govt is recent encroachment drive undertaken by PMC & PCMC that public civic bodies (read as whole & sole) of our Pune & Pimpri Chinchwad cities. Suddenly, with no local body in existence i.e., as per the constitution the five years limit of elected members has been over on March 22, both in PMC & PCMC & that means the ruler is now the administration & not our elected members (read as Mananiya). And on this background the administration has taken a massive drive against demolishing illegal structures & more importantly commercial establishments such as hotels, malls, shops, Marriage Halls as well lawns & such! Well, most (Read as common man) will say what’s big deal in it, wasn’t it required since long & it is a good thing for the city that the roads & footpaths & public places will be free from all the illegal structures & more space will be available for the citizens which they deserve! Indeed, no two minds about the need for such act of demolishing illegal structures can be there as an individual & a developer (it’s a fact) by myself I won’t ever support encroachments or illegality but…!  Its this “but” is always a problem & I know most readers will say, no wonder a builder will always be in the support of the buildings or structures, legal or illegal! I defer, my but is not to speak against the action of govt (pmc/ pcmc) on the illegal structure or the severity of it, my point is about the timing & the scale applied to this action!

I reside in central Pune on a 100 ft wide road where many hotels are aligned along with marriage halls/ lawns as well there are some small shops, garages as well food joints too on one side of the road which is a green belt & comes in blue line (or red line, what difference it makes any way). Ok, before you start reading further, a recap (read as explanation), the illegal structures are the built-up structures in any form, permanent or in temporary form such as shade, pandol (mandaw) or any such thing which is not part of the official sanction of the said building or the structure! As well, the blue line of the river is a flood control line marked along both banks of the river & beyond that line no structure is permitted in any form. Now you will understand the nature of the encroachment removal action PMC is conducting all in & around Pune city. Indeed, we all know most commercial establishments needs space as the business grow & its not always possible to expand the available space by completing legal norms & I am not saying the norms are wrong yet the fact remains that such businesses to accommodate their increased turnover try to utilize every sq. ft of the space around them & this is where the conflict occurs between the system (read as govt) & the users!

So, such illegal structures’ removal (read as demolition) with the use of every available machinery like JCBs’, Gas Cutters etc is being done by PMC & is talk of the town. It is a must thing as or else there won’t be respect for the laws in the minds of the common man is what I too believe like other sane citizens but! My point is, on the background of Covid hit last two years, where most businesses have suffered heavy financial losses & are just starting to come on the normal track of working, such kind of demolishing action is the final blow, especially the small-scale vendors & eateries types trades! I repeat I am not justifying illegality nor encroachment; all I am putting forward is the way things are being conducted in such actions by the govt! At the same time please see that in most small establishments the actual place or joint runner is a tenant who hasn't built illegal structures or encroached on the supposedly mandatory open spaces. All the tenant users have done is agree up on the place shown to him & do all necessary furniture, fill the raw material which takes away his major investment. And when PMC takes action on such places the maximum damage is caused to the furniture as well stock of stored materials making the end user victim while the original landlord gets away with not much damage. Outcome is, the suffering tenant traders move out of the premises due to losses incurred, the landlord finds new tenants & encroachment continues, this is my point!

At the same time why there is two mouthed approach by the govt about illegal structures, is the question I want to ask openly to every person in the society (as well as a builder too), as if this anti-encroachment drive is against the commercial establishments which are generating some employment & trade (is positive side if illegality is negative side) then the very govt turns a blind eye towards every illegal housing development which includes slums as well illegal buildings, plotting & list is on! Fact is, here the very same govt has been supporting to the illegalities by regularizing all such illegal structures which has been built not only by encroaching public places but have been built without any sanction or breaking safety norms & causing direct threat to the lives of million of residents of such buildings & loss of revenue! Rather the govt has submitted affidavits in the High Court in many matters not to demolish the illegal residential structures on the grounds of humanitarian approach for the residents & claiming its no fault of theirs as a home is the basic need of the life! Well, if it is so then earning for that life, how it can be a wrong cause that the govt give no time limit or considers nothing for the livelihood of people running such places, though may it be in the illegal way or encroached premise, is my point!

Basically, no law or sane man can sympathize or support any kind of illegality but the important aspect we are forgetting is later part of the sentence i.e., any kind of illegality! How can you demolish one structure, naming it as illegal while trying to regularize neighbouring structures just because its use is different, is what I wanted to put forward! Because this means, if you are building a hospital or a school (there are actually) then with the present logic of the govt about the illegal structures, you won’t have to take any permission or sanction & you can build it right in the middle of river bed (just example) or on the hill & eventually it will get legalized as your purpose is noble, right? Now coming to the second aspect of the illegal structures, there is age old (and famous) dialogue in our Bollywood Industry, “Koibhi Insan paida gunehagar nahi hota, halat use jurm karnepe majboor kar dete hai” i.e., nobody is a born criminal (read as law breaker) but it’s the situations which makes a person to become a criminal! Well, I differ as I have seen many born criminals (or with criminal minds) but logic here is the laws & system & the masses (read as society) all combinedly are responsible for the encroachments & illegality! If you are wondering how a customer going to some hotel or lawn is responsible for the illegal structure that establishment (or the landlord) has built then how you can ask the tenant responsible for the same, is the question I will ask. As when I have raised the point of damage suffered by traders who are tenants actually, then many “jagruk nagrik” commented, the tenants must check the legality of the premise before starting a food joint at such a place! Pont taken but then what about the people who eat food at such joints by parking their vehicles on roads or under No Parking boards? At the same time if illegal lawns or marriage halls are there, what about families booking their events at such places, are they too not part of this illegality? Ok, even what about the entire Pune city’s residents who buy hundreds of household things such as vegetables from the hawkers or traders which occupy the footpaths, are we all not guilty of the illegality or encroachments? I know, most will think I am diverting the subject, unfortunately I am not, fact is we all are so much used to illegality that all we need is one scapegoat to shrug away our sins, which we get through such sudden action of anti-encroachment drive & we think we are law abiding just by blindly supporting these drives, is my point!

And lastly, the urban planning policies of our govt which are the main reason for illegal structure, right from impossible parking provision norms to poor public transport to making No Development Zone in the areas like green belt or hill slopes right in city area we are in a way pushing people for illegal structures, is a fact. As, how a person can hold a piece of land if you neither allow him to develop it nor maintain it, as green belts are classic examples for our wrong urban policies. Instead declare these zones as reservations & acquire these lands by paying their market price, which PMC can’t do, saying, No Budget! So, the easier option is making the land a No Development zone & keep demolishing structures on it, if the owner tries to use these lands in any possible way! And on top of it, what the said system was doing when the first illegal structure was built, which nobody asks the said system, right? I repeat, I am not against keeping green zones or making hills green or any such development which is in the benefit of the entire city but take one look around us & tell me what you see & then take action accordingly, is my point!

I knew one middle class boy who has recently started a food joint in my neighbourhood & in this anti-encroachment drive his entire establishment has been crushed with JCB to debris along with his all investments. Now the only option with that boy is, to commit suicide or become a criminal, & who is responsible for that boy’s such fate, is the question I am unable to answer, let me know if you have any answer, is my point, that’s all!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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