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The
dictionary meaning of the word ‘encroach’ is “make gradual
inroads on others’ territory rights” or “intrude/usurp on
…”. The inference then is that encroachment is illegal. It is
when trespass takes place without permission, it is when areas
meant for specified uses are intruded upon with impunity and put
to other, not rightful, uses.
However,
there is also ‘legal’ encroachment. Legal, because the very
authorities in whom the ownership of the land is vested, use it
for purposes other than what it was meant for.
Maybe this is not strictly ‘encroachment’, but because
of the fact that it is misused rather than rightfully used, we
believe it can be correctly labeled as “legal” encroachment.
CitiSpace
(Citizens’ Forum for Protection of Public Spaces), as its
name suggests, is committed to the protection of all Public Open
Spaces – footpaths, playgrounds, recreation grounds, beaches,
mangroves, and so on – and advocates their rightful use.
CitiSpace
had its beginnings in a small initiative called the Clean-Up
Churchgate project where four resident associations and a non
– governmental organisation got together to clean up Churchgate.
It organised, amongst other things, a second cleaning of the area
around Churchgate station, installation of dustbins and
distribution of educational material which highlighted the need
for cleanliness and hygiene. However, it was soon clear to the
group of six representing these associations, that a true clean-up
in Churchgate and the rest of the city required an urgent
addressing of the hawker problem. Thus, in June 1998, was born the
Citizens’ Forum for Protection of Public Spaces. That it
answered a widely felt need is clear from the fact that in ten
days its membership had grown to include twenty-eight
organisations. Today, in its new avatar of CitiSpace (re-named in
July 2001), it boasts a membership of
500 resident associations, community-based organisations,
non-government organisations, trade/commercial establishments and
individuals in most of Mumbai’s 24 Wards.
The
immediate issue which brought people together to form CitiSpace
was the encroachment of the city’s pavements by hawkers.
Pavements are meant for pedestrians, or so we believe, and this
was corroborated by a 1985 Supreme Court judgement on the Hawker
matter, which said, “Public streets… are meant for the use of
the general public. They are not laid to facilitate carrying on
private trade or business.” However, the hawkers and the
implementing authorities thought otherwise. The pavements of
Mumbai became the illegal business premises of both. The hawkers,
because most of them did not have licenses, and the authorities,
because they were using the hawkers illegality to extort their
daily hafta instead of finding a system to legitimise a
certain number and removing the others. By turning a blind eye to
their illegality they gave the hawkers a false sense of security.
While
this vintage nexus blossomed, citizen apathy continued. It was
only when an ill-conceived plan of the municipal corporation of
Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for zoning hawkers into hawking/non-hawking
zones saw “pitches” being marked out in their quiet
neighbourhoods that suddenly there was intense resident activity
– meetings with authorities, protests and finally approaching
the Court. CitiSpace soon realised that this apathy on the
citizen’s part had to be addressed. One of the reasons for this
malaise was the lack of information about their rights,
particularly at the local wards’ level. The refrain always was:
the municipality says this cannot be done; the police say this is
the law; what can I do? It is the job of the authorities; we pay
our taxes, etc. etc. The mai-baap syndrome has always been
there, and was being exploited to the hilt by unscrupulous
politicians and the authorities.
The
hawker matter saw citizens speaking out and coming together,
albeit tentatively. CitiSpace virtually grew into an organisation
by virtue of its Core Group gathering relevant information,
editing and simplifying it for the layperson, and disseminating it
to its members and anyone who called for it. It empowered people
to begin approaching their ward offices for resolving local
problems and being able to authoritatively say that this was their
due. It began working, perhaps only sporadically, but enough to
embolden others to follow.
CitiSpace
too went to court on the hawker matter, but with a difference.
Unlike all the other petitioners it asked for a holistic solution
to the problem to benefit the whole city. It sought that the
municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai implement the 1985 Supreme
Court order and form a hawking/non-hawking zone scheme, which
would address the concerns of both citizens and hawkers. CitiSpace
is not against hawking and asks only for a system within the law.
It has been a long and arduous three years and no final resolution
is yet available, with the matter still in the Supreme Court.
CitiSpace’s
agenda grew, and more and more citizens participated. It became
clear that empowering citizens to take up issues close to their
heart and locale is a great catalyst. ‘Ownership’ of one’s
area and a sense that one is here to stay motivates like nothing
else does, as the benefits accrued will be there for one’s
future generations. The refrain of “I am alone, no one helps,
etc.” continues. However, many have formed resident associations
or just groups of three or four and set forth on their mission.
Little successes help and more people join. This is how
CitiSpace’s membership has grown. Our members are individuals
and organisations who have their own agenda and work locally in
their own areas. The common thread binding them all is their
concern for Public Open Spaces – even if it’s only their
Public Open Spaces. CitiSpace empowers them with relevant
information, interacts with them and supports them in their
dealings with the local and central authorities. In many cases it
was a small group wanting to protect their local recreation ground
that made CitiSpace respond. CitiSpace forwarded to them the
required information to enable them to make an informed decision
and move in the right direction towards fulfilling their goal.
The
other areas where CitiSpace has tried to empower citizens to deal
with problems are the protection of mangroves, encroachment and
noise pollution in the name of religion, the slum rehabilitation
scheme’s draconian application to Public Open Spaces and No
Development zones, and, finally, hoardings which are in Public
Open Spaces in spite of clear MCGM guidelines.
This
article does not delve into the subject of inefficiency of the
administration, corruption, political interference – even
patronage – and such negatives for a specific reason. These seem
to be here to stay, for the moment at least. Hence, the imperative
need for citizen activism. Citizen apathy has to vanish and all
citizens must play their role in urban renewal. The ills are there
for all of us to see and it helps little to moan about them; it
will help greatly if we all exercised our democratic rights.
It
is clear what the way ahead has to be vigilance, determination,
focus, knowledge, civil behaviour, patience and dogged
perseverance, at all times. Not always in this order but always
within the parameters of the law and with a holistic approach to
the citizens and their needs. It is in the hands of the citizens,
or should be in the hands of the citizens, to nudge the
authorities to do the right thing by them and their area. This can
only happen once the authorities realise that citizens know their
rights, know what they are talking about, and that this awareness
has been consolidated into a cohesive group action. It is only
then that any fundamental change will take place. This is
important. The authorities can be very dismissive of a lone voice,
stating that such views are not representative, and often play
citizens against one another.
Goals
should be small and realistic. This will yield quick results and
lend credibility to the group. The temptation to take on larger
issues is very real and understandably so. Mumbai’s problems and
the accompanying rampant corruption have grown beyond the level of
acceptability and sometimes there seems to be no end in sight.
Fortunately, now there are established groups citywide who are
trying hard to address citywide issues. Their strength must come
from locally active groups to demonstrate to the authorities that
citizens mean business and are becoming a force to reckon with. In
this age of vote bank politics this is vital. Politicians’ plans
and views are determined by numbers. Unfortunately, today, our
numbers can still not be classified as a force.
At
CitiSpace, we often joke that there are only two ways we would be
“out of business” so to speak – if all Public Open Spaces
get encroached leaving nothing to protect, or CitiSpace protects
them all leaving nothing to encroach upon! Perhaps the latter is
what citizen groups all over Mumbai should seek to do for their
localities, so that together we shall prevail and, hopefully,
succeed in being collectively “out of business”!
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