PPF_housing1_18z__Families evicted from Sion Circle and shifted to Mankhurd 5 December
Drive Against Squatters
SION COLONY DEMOLISHED
The first concrete step towards ridding the city of its
75,000 squatter population
has been taken by the Bombay Municipality.
An entire squatter colony,
consisting of about 1,700 families, which for years had disfigured Sion Circle in the north
of the city, has been demolished.
The demolition was carried
out without any untoward incident. Not all the families, however, have chosen to avail themselves of the alternative sites
for constructing huts in the
squatter township at Mankhurd. About 500 went to Ghatkopar and many appear to have
shifted only to swell squatter
colonies in other parts of the
city.
Nevertheless the Mankhurd
township is beginning to take
root. About 500 families have
already put up their huts on
sites rented out by the Municipality.
"Many of the huts do not conform to the stipulated standards, but the Municipal authorities have abstained from
rigidly enforcing the standards
evidently as their greatest anxiety at the moment is to see
that the squatters take up the
sites. A police station, a Government grain shop and a canteen
have already been established
in the township.
Having successfully dealt with
the squatter colony at Sion, the
Municipality proposes to take
similar action in the next few
days at Mahim where there are
about 500 squatter families.
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