While the Mumbaikar\u2019s fight for space inside local trains is well documented, coincidentally, the Indian Railways itself is similarly constrained to expand its existing infrastructure. The swathes of land along the tracks of Mumbai\u2019s suburban lines occupied by colonies of slums are an impediment to the execution of critical rail projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over approximately six decades, more than 30 hectares of rail land on Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) corridors have been encroached by illegal slums, delaying the expansion of two lines \u2013 termed fifth and sixth. The project is worth \u20b92500 crore approximately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is our land: Slum dwellers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The encroachments have assimilated on lands belonging to both the railways and the state government. The colonies have both make-shift shanties as well as concrete lego-like buildings. As they came into existence many years ago, the residents believe they are owed suitable rehabilitation. As the railways do not have a policy to rehabilitate those occupying the rail land they rely on the state authorities for the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe railway land was acquired and demarcated by the British and later transferred to the government of independent India. The railways takes no responsibility for millions of poor Indians who are living on the land. They have intentionally created a situation where millions have no housing rights. On the other hand, the government wants to sell railways land to extract profit. This is an anti-people move,\u201d said Shubham Kothari, who heads Jan Hakk Sangharsh Samiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mumbai’s rail expansion is hindered by over 30 hectares of illegal slum encroachments, delaying crucial projects worth \u20b92500 crore and causing homelessness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":338593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,2325,47],"tags":[19093],"class_list":["post-338592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-indian-railways","category-rail-news","tag-mumbai"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t