Violence as police flatten Slumdog homes

Police armed with wooden sticks have beaten residents protesting at the destruction of their homes in India shanty towns. Armed with long wooden sticks, officers used aggressive tactics to control people who were forced to watch as their houses were demolished. This is the grim reality in the city of Mumbai – a sharp contrast to the recent Hollywood glitz surrounding Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

At the end of last year, authorities began the mass destruction of unauthorised slums and yesterday was the turn of Ganpat Patil. Amid heavy stone pelting and protests, bulldozers on Wednesday razed 230 ‘unauthorised’ huts in the district, according to The Times of India.

Slumdwellers hurled stones at civic officials, many of whom suffered minor injuries. A massive work force and machinery - 40 labourers, 175 police constables, dumpers and JCBs – were used to pull down the homes. Senior police inspector Krishnaji Gaikwad told the newspaper, "we arrested 23 slumdwellers on charges of rioting after they pelted stones at the demolition team. Three to four police personnel were also injured.''

Legal residents said the shanty towns were a safety threat, accusing dwellers of robberies and stealing electricity. Authorities have said the ‘illegal’ homes were destroying mangrove patch there. But mafia in the suburbs has been using the mangrove strategy as a cover for illegal land grabs, some sources say, according to the newspaper. First, they hack mangroves, then dump debris on the land and build temporary sheds there - effectively over the past few years to grab large chunks of plots. And all this is despite a law against destroying mangroves, rubbish dumping and any kind of construction within such protected areas.

"The mafia operates at night when the police can hardly provide protection. However, the court ruling had put the onus of conserving mangroves on deputy commissioner of police - he has been appointed the nodal officer. But little seems to have been done in that direction,'' a senior official told the newspaper.

About 65million Indians – a quarter of the urban population – live in slums, official surveys reveal. Meanwhile, keen to cash in on the film's success, India's ruling party bought the rights to theme tune Jai Ho, meaning victory, for its upcoming election campaign. Congress leaders were criticised by opposition parties, who said the move was a gimmick. “This song will ensure their defeat because it will remind every Indian that millions of people still have to stay in slums,” Prakash Javadekar, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party told Associated Press news agency.

Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children