There is no denying the fact that the slums of Mumbai are a goldmine in itself. Builders, politicians and the residents are always quick to realize this. Large-scale fraudery to gobble up slums to mint money by redevolopment is quite rampant. Builder-politician-underworld nexus profits hugely through such corrupt practices.
The recent issue of The Week (August 28, 2011 ) has its cover story on one such land scam. The Golibar Slum Redevelopment (Santacruz, Mumbai). It has uncovered how Shivalik Builders has appropriated huge amount of land by using fraudulent means, and how the then Maharshtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was allegedly hand- in -glove in the whole deal.
The story is not new. What is new is the ` difficulty’ with which this story gets to see the light of the day in media.
This puts a question mark on the integrity of media barons and editors.
I speak this from personal experience. During one of my television reporting spells when I `happened’ to stumble across this story, I thought I had a scoop in my hand. My source was Simpreet Singh, a colleague and RTI activist , of Medha Patkar.
When I landed on the site the utter chaos was a sickening revelation.
There were people who had given up there chawl to the builders but had not been assigned a transit camp shelter.
There were people who were hounded by henchmen of builders for the papers/rights of their chawls for petty sums.
Residents were living in utter squalor.
There were multiple small groups of resident socities who viewed builders and journalists with equal distaste.Both were seen as partners in crime in suppressing facts from going public.
I had found out that their fear and grouse were not unfounded. Prior to me other TV reporters had come and shot/interviewed the residents extensively. But very strangely their encounters with builders had a dampening effect on their journalistic zeal. The reports never did saw the light of the day.
So they viewed me too with unconcealed suspicion. There was an undercurrent of seething fury which was cleary felt. My sources in the area were aware of the animosity and steered my team clear of such elements.
This was one of my last reports I filed for the channel before I left.
My last report for the channel was, however, for yet another slumland scam. It was for a slumland in the the Gilbert Hill area ( Andheri west).
Here too, the redevelopment was being done by a concern owned by a builder-politician from Bandra.
Large-scale bungling in slum ownership and land acquisition was quite apparent. In fact toilets were named as chawls in paper and passed off to get clearance.
The builder/residents/middlemen were to be beneficiary of such idiotic but ingenious manipulations.
The environment here was very hostile. The middlemen were snooping dangerously for our TV crew. We shot and left as they arrived as lumpen groups to harrass the poor residents.
The point of the matter is that slumland scams are not a scoop anymore in Mumbai.
Way back in the late 90s The Shivshahi Purnasvasan Prakalp (SSP) was clearly indicted for corrupt practises by the Tinaikar committee report, which came down heavily on the BJP-Shiv Sena government too on the matter.
Shivshahi Purnasvasan Prakalp, was an outfit floated by the BJP-Shiv Sena regime in 1996 to redevelop slums.
The rot has only intensified with time under different Congress-NCP regimes.
A lot many politicians cutting across party lines are builders on the side. We may only see a Manohar Joshi, a Raj Thackeray or a Baba Siddiqie, but politicians have heavy stakes in construction activity on the sly.
As such real estate policy making and implementation are quite often compromised at the ground zero level.
Media is forced to understand this nexus. It is forced to compromise on reporting. The regional press, both press and TV, are under compulsions to toe the line. Pressure from the regional political satraps and lure of the lucre are both used to break the moral spine of the press.
Media, too, uses its blitzekeig against the corrupt builders, gainfully.
A sustained attack against the builder community yields dividends by the way of advertisements. Even The Times of India had tried this trick for its suburban Pune edition.
TV channels have learned the ropes too. The political community too finds itself on the defensive against such onslaughts. And ofcourse the pro-people image the channel gains in the process is the icing on the cake.
The recent issue of The Week (August 28, 2011 ) has its cover story on one such land scam. The Golibar Slum Redevelopment (Santacruz, Mumbai). It has uncovered how Shivalik Builders has appropriated huge amount of land by using fraudulent means, and how the then Maharshtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was allegedly hand- in -glove in the whole deal.
The story is not new. What is new is the ` difficulty’ with which this story gets to see the light of the day in media.
This puts a question mark on the integrity of media barons and editors.
I speak this from personal experience. During one of my television reporting spells when I `happened’ to stumble across this story, I thought I had a scoop in my hand. My source was Simpreet Singh, a colleague and RTI activist , of Medha Patkar.
When I landed on the site the utter chaos was a sickening revelation.
There were people who had given up there chawl to the builders but had not been assigned a transit camp shelter.
There were people who were hounded by henchmen of builders for the papers/rights of their chawls for petty sums.
Residents were living in utter squalor.
There were multiple small groups of resident socities who viewed builders and journalists with equal distaste.Both were seen as partners in crime in suppressing facts from going public.
I had found out that their fear and grouse were not unfounded. Prior to me other TV reporters had come and shot/interviewed the residents extensively. But very strangely their encounters with builders had a dampening effect on their journalistic zeal. The reports never did saw the light of the day.
So they viewed me too with unconcealed suspicion. There was an undercurrent of seething fury which was cleary felt. My sources in the area were aware of the animosity and steered my team clear of such elements.
This was one of my last reports I filed for the channel before I left.
My last report for the channel was, however, for yet another slumland scam. It was for a slumland in the the Gilbert Hill area ( Andheri west).
Here too, the redevelopment was being done by a concern owned by a builder-politician from Bandra.
Large-scale bungling in slum ownership and land acquisition was quite apparent. In fact toilets were named as chawls in paper and passed off to get clearance.
The builder/residents/middlemen were to be beneficiary of such idiotic but ingenious manipulations.
The environment here was very hostile. The middlemen were snooping dangerously for our TV crew. We shot and left as they arrived as lumpen groups to harrass the poor residents.
The point of the matter is that slumland scams are not a scoop anymore in Mumbai.
Way back in the late 90s The Shivshahi Purnasvasan Prakalp (SSP) was clearly indicted for corrupt practises by the Tinaikar committee report, which came down heavily on the BJP-Shiv Sena government too on the matter.
Shivshahi Purnasvasan Prakalp, was an outfit floated by the BJP-Shiv Sena regime in 1996 to redevelop slums.
The rot has only intensified with time under different Congress-NCP regimes.
A lot many politicians cutting across party lines are builders on the side. We may only see a Manohar Joshi, a Raj Thackeray or a Baba Siddiqie, but politicians have heavy stakes in construction activity on the sly.
As such real estate policy making and implementation are quite often compromised at the ground zero level.
Media is forced to understand this nexus. It is forced to compromise on reporting. The regional press, both press and TV, are under compulsions to toe the line. Pressure from the regional political satraps and lure of the lucre are both used to break the moral spine of the press.
Media, too, uses its blitzekeig against the corrupt builders, gainfully.
A sustained attack against the builder community yields dividends by the way of advertisements. Even The Times of India had tried this trick for its suburban Pune edition.
TV channels have learned the ropes too. The political community too finds itself on the defensive against such onslaughts. And ofcourse the pro-people image the channel gains in the process is the icing on the cake.
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