PPF_housing1_03_Gwaliorpalace_1
News about homeless attempting squatting at the Gwalior Palace, Worli after their houses were demolished.
___________________________________________
HOMELESS INVADE GWALIOR PALACE
Socialist Corporators Among 62 Arrested
SIXTY:two persons, including four Municipal Corporators belonging to the Socialist Party of Bombay, were arrested by the Bombay City Police on Saturday night for alleged trespass in "Samudra Mahal", palace of the Maharaja of Gwalior at Worli.
It was stated that Mr. G. G. Mehta, President of the Greater Bombay Tenants Union and Socialist member of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, accompanied by nearly 250 persons, who were occupants of 100 tenements demolished at Mahim Causeway by the Collector of Bombay, occupied the palace.
According to the police, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, nearly 250 persons, including women and children, assembled on the Worli maidan and decided to wait upon the Home Minister of Bombay, Mr. Morarji Desai, to persuade him to make some arrangements to house them.
The Home Minister was reported to have stated that the policy of Government was to clear all persons authorised. He further stated that occupying Government lands un-no alternative arrangements could be made to house them at present and were asked to quit the place.
The Socialist leader conveyed the views of the Home Minister to the tenants waiting on the maidan, and he was stated to have advised them to occupy any vacant premises that came in their way. About 5 p.m. Mr. Mehta led them in a procession and halted in front of "Samudra Mahal" of the Maharaja of Gwalior on Hornby Vellard.
JUMPING OVER WALL
As the entrance to the palace was closed, Mr. Mehta asked the demonstrators to jump over the walls and occupy the palace. They occupied the first and third floors of the building.
Mr. S. R. Neale, Deputy Communissioner of Police, who rushed to the spot, advised the demonstrators to leave the palace. About a hundred of them left the premises of the building, but Mr. Mehta and some others refused, and offered "satyagraha" by squatting on the premises of the palace. Sixty others, including some women and children, also followed suit.
As they refused to give up the demonstration, Mr. Neale, assisted by Superintendent Clay and a large posse of police from Agripada, lifted the squatters one by one and put them in waiting police vans below, to be driven to the Agripada Police Station.
Among the arrested persons are: Mr. G. G. Mehta, President of the Greater Bombay Tenants' Union and a Socialist member of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, Mrs. Vasanti Shroff, Mr. V. B. Varaskar, and Dr. Narde, also Socialist members of the Corporation, and Dr. Baxi, Secretary of the Tenants' Union.
The arrested men did not accept the bail granted by the police.
Pad.ma requires JavaScript.
