MUMBAI: No individual water connections will be given to post-1995 slumdwellers, the government emphasized before the Bombay high court on Thursday.The state said civic corporations have been asked to appoint designated
officers to deal with the issue of illegal slums and such officers
could face a jail term of up to three months and/or a fine of Rs 20,000
for failing to take action against unauthorized construction. Hearing a PIL filed by Pani Haq Samiti
challenging the state’s decision to deny water supply to post-1995
slums, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin
Jamdar asked the BMC to file its response. “All municipal commissioners
and chief officers of the state were instructed to ensure that no
(individual) water connection was given to unauthorized constructions,”
an affidavit filed by Seema Dhamdhere, joint secretary in the urban
development department, said. The affidavit was submitted by assistant
government pleader Milind More.

“Slumdwellers living in
structures that have come up after 1995 have no locus standi and those
structures are expected to be demolished. Individual post-paid water
connections should not be given to non-protected (post-1995) slumdwellers
as it would create problems in recovery of water bills if these
hutments were to be demolished,” said the affidavit, justifying a 1996
circular. According to the government, local municipal authorities had
been asked to provide drinking water in such slums through a common
connection or public water booths.

The affidavit further said
municipal bodies in the state have been asked to appoint zone-wise
designated officers to remove illegal structures. “The main intention
behind the circular was to prevent unauthorized construction
and encroachments on public land in municipal areas in the state, which
are a matter of serious concern,” said the affidavit by Dhamdhere.If new illegal constructions come up, then such officers could be
placed under suspension and subjected to a departmental inquiry. Failure
to take action could result in prosecution under the BMC Act.