South Mumbai tenants protest after Bombay Port Trust slaps them with notices

Placards of south Mumbai residents and tenants say it all at Azad Maidan on Tuesday PicsBipin KokateAs the April sun blazed down on Azad Maidan south Mumbai residents and tenants gathered there were feeling the heat for an entirely different reason the fear of being rendered homeless by the Bombay Port Trust MbPT which has slapped notices on several buildings across the city particularly in SoBoThe Port Trust served notices to a number of residential and commercial properties stating that their lease is over or citing breaches like rent arrears and illegal construction allegedly in a bid to force pagadi tenants to either leave or pay astronomical rent at market rates in SoBo which are at least 50 times more than what they are paying currentlyTuesday afternoon saw them assembled at Azad Maidan to listen to Vinod Shekhar general secretary of Mumbai Congress the next politician promising to play saviour to the residents after Shiv Senas Arvind Sawant had vowed to help them Shekhar said Our numbers are less today but I hope we will be many more the next time We must start somewhere and today we start this fight Soon enough slogans of BJPShiv Sena hai hai rang out spearheaded by ShekharA complex matterThere are several buildings in which landlords have collected rents from tenants and have simply gone missing They have not handed over the rent amount to the Port Trust Now the tenants say We are paying the price for the missing landlords The Port Trust does not recognise us formally They say that all they know is that rent has not been paid There are arrears running into lakhs In many instances tenants are paying old rent rates ranging from Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 a month We fear that we will be told to pay new market rates which will be close to a lakh or more per month Then what will we do It is either this or get out said Sridhar Shenoy resident of Darukhana which is also a prime Port Trust targetWe have no option but to come on the streets said Activist S Sapre upon being invited to the dais Sapre stressed that they need support from slum dwellers and Kohlis fisherfolk as wellPervez Cooper the face of Colaba in the fight against the Port Trust thundered We want all political parties to support us Where is Mr Narendra Modi He needs to listenI voted for him we want our voices to reach himClubs under attackRadio Club president Premal Goragandhi said Progress does not mean making people homeless The club president was alluding to plans to evict residents and build worldclass piers gardens towers and hospitals there Incidentally Radio Club is in the Port Trusts firing line like several other clubs including Yacht ClubSome of those who attended had not yet received any notice But it is better to be prepared who knows what will happen said Bharat Kini who runs a restaurant in Ballard Pier Look what happened in the highways and liquor case One fine day all the shops and restaurants were closedMore buildings get noticesThere was a buzz of at least four buildings in the Ballard PierColaba stretch including a hotel having recently received Port Trust notices This is the single biggest property crisis in the city right now SoBo is a goldmine everybody wants a slice of the pie finished M Sanjana Colaba resident as the worried group filtered out of the Maidan lamenting We all are living in a climate of fear Who knows what the next day will bring