While watching this report on prime time by Ravish on NDTV I went back in my memory lane when we used to live in a similar colony. Our colony was also unauthorized, which means it was constructed without proper permission and paperwork from the municipal authority which is necessary to have an authorized construction to pay a property tax. Authorized construction is also registered under the owner's name in government records and one can sell it legally and government can't demolish it just like that. As ours was an unauthorized colony government didn't provide necessary infrastructure like water, sewage, proper roads, etc. Our only hope was our corporator Mr. Shashikant Sutar who used to help us get some of these things from the municipal corporation and he also used to take care of all the legal notices of demolition sent to all of us by the municipal corporation. During the initial days, water was supplied by water tankers. It used to be literally a war-like situation to get a bucket of water. People used to fight hard to reach the tanker tap first to make sure that they got enough water for them until the next visit of the tanker. Normally, women and kids of the family used to do this water fetching business as men used to be at work. My mom hated this ordeal because first of all, as she was a recent immigrant from another state she could not speak the local language (Marathi) very well, and by nature, she doesn't like to argue or confront anyone so she used to hate this, but there was no other way to get water. All homes in such colonies shared common walls on both sides, and only homes at the end of the lane had the luxury of having windows on side walls otherwise only option was to have windows on the front wall or on the back wall. Normally these colonies grow over time as people construct their own houses depending on their financial capacity so some homes can be two-storied and some can be just one storey and they both stand side by side. Local politicians play a key role in keeping things in order in such colonies as everyone goes to them to solve their disputes and for any legal trouble from the municipal corporations.
Life in these places is not that easy but it is not like that people living there don't enjoy or have fun. I had a pretty good time during my childhood. I agree that our parents were under constant threat of losing their home constructed with hard-earned money but we also had a very supportive politician to help us. In return for this protection, we elected him as our corporator and MLA until he retired from active politics. Our colony stood on private land, every family bought a piece of privately owned land and constructed their home. We just didn't have proper approvals to build homes on that land. This was due to a lack of knowledge, a lack of money to get this approval, and a very corrupt approval process where it was impossible to get approval without paying bribes. The colony was not on some government land, so, there was no issue of land encroachment and still, it took more than two decades to get it authorized. So whenever these political parties make promises like authorizing illegal colonies, they sound unreal and they do it only to fool those residents for their votes. Now, our colony is authorized with all the required paperwork and we all pay property tax on it but it took almost 20-30 years to get this done and still it is very unsafe with narrow lanes and no space for parking. So, making them authorized does solve a few problems, the threat of demolition is gone, and you get water and electricity, but issues about safety still remain. This is a very lucrative topic for vote bank politics as all voters living in these colonies entirely depend on political leaders to protect their homes from the clutches of law. The issue is very complicated and deeply political, many political parties want such issues to last forever so that they can reap benefit from these vote banks in every election. I guess the time has come for people living in such colonies to unite and then negotiate with the government some proper plan that can improve living conditions in such places. They deserve better treatment from the government.
I have very fond memories from the time I spent living in an unauthorized colony, but I know that there was a lot of uncertainty and stress for my parents to protect their home. I really hope that this issue can be resolved and our political parties care for the well-being of people living in such colonies.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
Life in these places is not that easy but it is not like that people living there don't enjoy or have fun. I had a pretty good time during my childhood. I agree that our parents were under constant threat of losing their home constructed with hard-earned money but we also had a very supportive politician to help us. In return for this protection, we elected him as our corporator and MLA until he retired from active politics. Our colony stood on private land, every family bought a piece of privately owned land and constructed their home. We just didn't have proper approvals to build homes on that land. This was due to a lack of knowledge, a lack of money to get this approval, and a very corrupt approval process where it was impossible to get approval without paying bribes. The colony was not on some government land, so, there was no issue of land encroachment and still, it took more than two decades to get it authorized. So whenever these political parties make promises like authorizing illegal colonies, they sound unreal and they do it only to fool those residents for their votes. Now, our colony is authorized with all the required paperwork and we all pay property tax on it but it took almost 20-30 years to get this done and still it is very unsafe with narrow lanes and no space for parking. So, making them authorized does solve a few problems, the threat of demolition is gone, and you get water and electricity, but issues about safety still remain. This is a very lucrative topic for vote bank politics as all voters living in these colonies entirely depend on political leaders to protect their homes from the clutches of law. The issue is very complicated and deeply political, many political parties want such issues to last forever so that they can reap benefit from these vote banks in every election. I guess the time has come for people living in such colonies to unite and then negotiate with the government some proper plan that can improve living conditions in such places. They deserve better treatment from the government.
I have very fond memories from the time I spent living in an unauthorized colony, but I know that there was a lot of uncertainty and stress for my parents to protect their home. I really hope that this issue can be resolved and our political parties care for the well-being of people living in such colonies.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
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1. प्राइम टाइम : अनियमित कॉलोनियों का ये है हाल
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