Mumbai’s chronic bugbear— encroachment­—has reared its ugly head again through extensive reports in our paper about hutment dwellers extending shanties from the shore right into the sea, ‘reclaiming’ land in this illegal way with total impunity. Complaints have not evinced too much response. Even this paper had those in charge eluding response, so one can guess the frustration of locals there or how they ran into a wall even when they complain about the encroachment.

We see a steady takeover everywhere, on our roads and even in the sea. The shanties are first built extremely close to the shoreline. They then start extending. Like we see on land, the occupants start moving further inwards. The height of the hutments has also increased, going up two-three floors. Many of these dwellers have more space than regular flat owners. They are also obdurate and unapologetic about being illegal, asking where else could they go to get homes. There is a sense of unabashed entitlement and fearless flouting of the law in this attitude, evident through their answers to reporters who researched this for the reports in this paper.