The Past

CRH was formed as a network of NGOs in early 80s working on housing issues. The agenda very clearly was to resist demolitions, to monitor demolitions, and create alternatives for demolitions. 

 

The initial coordinating committee, comprised a sizable number of interested Bombay-based NGOs and individuals. The idea was to constitute a collective representing similar organizations, to develop strategies to oppose the Supreme Court judgment (favoring demolitions) and suggest alternatives against demolitions to the government.

 

Within two years, the work of the CRH graduated from anti-demolition mobilization and strategizing to demanding that housing be recognized as a fundamental right in the Constitution of India. This was in alliance with a nationwide campaign on – National Campaign for Housing Rights which was demanding the recognition of housing as a fundamental right.

 

The work of CRH historically can be articulated under three major heads -

 

a)  Building public opinion : CRH published leaflets, handouts, and other reading material to raise public awareness about slum and pavement dwellers. Slide shows, posters, a journal (‘Right to Housing’, a quarterly journal from the CRH) and a film (‘Fighting for a Foothold’ filmed from 1984-1985) were prepared with the objective to “expose myths related to pavement and slum dwellers”

 

b) Working with  public officials :  Meetings were held with the State Housing Minister, the Municipal Commissioner,  and others to work out feasible alternatives and arrive at a more comprehensive and humane solution to the problem of housing for slum and pavement dwellers of the city. The position was one of confrontation though rehabilitation was being considered as a practical alternative. The position was that rehabilitation initiatives should precede evictions. CRH also believed in providing security of tenure to the slum dwellers. The CRH believed that the government  of Maharashtra must implement the  Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCRA) of 1976.  The claim of scarcity of land was understood as a falsehood propagated by those in power.

 

c)  Mobilizing slum and pavement dwellers :  Through the medium of community meetings, songs, and street plays, CRH discussed legal issues and rights with affected communities. Protest marches organized by different parties and united fronts were used as points for mobilizing people to generate feelings of solidarity among what were described as “victim groups” . This was a time when Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti and Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action among many other groups worked together to sensitize communities of their rights and to lead protest marches as a show of collective identity and discontent.

 

In the 1990s the nature of CRH as a collective changed tremendously. YUVA, SRS and several other organizations moved out of the network leaving behind several small NGOs largely Church based groups. Several demolitions in the city attested to the need for an organization like CRH, hence it was registered as an independent organisation. Though networking remained one of the major activities of the organisation along with it CRH started focused work in the area of community development in Kherwadi (H east ward in Mumbai). Various community development activities and issues like irregularity in rationing, relief during fire were organized in a number of slums in Kherwadi. Community animators training program was a regular feature of this phase of CRH. The activities were mainly organized to evolve empowered cadres on issues of housing rights. A group of trained animators from different slums of Kherwadi collectively formed a Kherwadi Taluka Zoppadpatti Vikas Samiti (KTZVS). KTZVS worked on a host of issues starting from helping community people with formation of co-operative housing societies to training them on managing the societies to issues of sanitation, provision of water taps and rationing. This initiative was sustained till early 2000 but it then gradually fizzled out as the trained animators found spaces to voices their concerns with various political parties active in the area. The KTZVS fizzled out when CRH tried withdrawing from KTZVS.

 

CRH earlier was a network with a top down approach but as people gained experience it was realized that a network needs to emerge from the grassroots.  Therefore it was strategically decided to begin networking from the grassroots which had remained the critical loose end in the form of network that CRH was earlier.

 



The Present

It is with zeal that CRH has continued to engage from 2000 onwards. From 2000 onwards following have been the directions of CRH work. The work of CRH can then be classified under 4 major heads

 

A. Basic Amenities and Governance - CRH also engaged with issues of sanitation and hygiene along with participation in governance in a slum pocket named Behrampada. As one knows that Behrampada is a big locality with large population and a very complex environment. A number of initiatives were taken during the last years (2004 –2005) under Behrampada Development Project. To reiterate – women’s groups were organized in a number of lanes and were trained over a period of two and a half years on issues of waste segregation and disposal, issues of personal hygiene, rationing, health services available at the ward level, registration in electoral list, on issues of 74th amendment and issues of programs of housing and security of tenure. BMC which had stopped servicing the area after the riots were pressurized to provide services in the community. The community women took it upon themselves to monitor and guide the sweepers coming to the community. The collective effort made way for Umang Mahila Federation for addressing the issues of waste disposal, sanitation and hygiene at the level of the community.

 

Though CRH has officially withdrawn from the regular activities but the federation has been sustained through regular training programs and building campaigns – no to plastic bags and others to make the federation sustainable.

 

We are attempting to evolve similar models in other communities in H East Ward like Dnayneshwarnagar and a few pockets in Golibar. The attempts are on and there are women’s groups in each of these communities.
 
B. Around issues of displacement – CRH since the very inception CRH has opposed the attempts of government on evictions and displacement. This also forms a critical area of CRH work. Various initiatives have been made in the past and present to oppose displacement. In the recent past CRH facilitated the formation of Aawas Adhikar Sanyukt Kriti Samiti a federation of NGOs, political parties and trade unions to protest the eviction drive in 2005. Since then AASKS has graduated to address many housing rights issues in the city – right from opposing evictions, proposing a pro people rehabilitation model (this was worked in with collaboration all who were protesting eviction for the committee that was formed to formulate a rehab policy for the people evicted in 2004), to ULCRA, rent control etc.

 

AASKS has become a very successful model as we have been at one level able to sustain the federation through conducting regular activities and continuously attempting to build our own capacities for engaging in issues related to housing rights.

 

Another community where we have been able to empower community against resistance free displacement is the community of Indira Naga Bandra Pipeline. The community is identified as one of the communities living on the water pipelines and likely to be evicted in the coming months. Here the dynamics within the community are complex and their relationship with political parties varied. We have attempted to make people aware on the issues pertaining to rehabilitation – with emphasis on the need to bring in issues of livelihood as majority of the people are working in unorganized sector and their work is related to opportunities available at the Bandra Teminus. There is a large stock of people on rent in this community and therefore we are attempting to highlight the need for rental housing stock in the city.

 

While working here we came across various complex issues which ave not been addressed before. We are grappling with issues of multiple documents, owning a number of houses and exploiting the current structure as a source of income. We have not come to any conclusion or a strategy to deal with what we are facing but we hope that long term engagement with these communities shall give us deeper insights of what are the various forms of exclusion of urban poor both on the front of habitat and that pertaining to issues of livelihood.

 

Another very small community on the pipeline situated very close to the Bandra Creek is the community of Pumpapur. We have attempted to organize the community people here since the area is demolished on a regular basis but the community still exists. The invisibility of the existence of these people is the one of the major issues that has emerged as all attempts to find evidence on the number of times demolitions have happened in the past have failed. Also our attempts to procure documentary evidences as ration card have failed. Here again we are yet to come with strategies to find sound solutions for homeless people but we are hopeful that constant engagement shall definitely help in our attempts. 

 

In the struggle against eviction of 4 lakh people residing in Airport land CRH is not leading the network but is a part of the network that has emerged. CRH has engaged with slums on airport land in Jeri Meri. Through our strategy of building public opinion we have been able to facilitate formation of sangarsh samiti’s who are active players in the larger network. In the coming days this will emerge as a very crucial campaign it will bring into light the land grab movement of the government to light. The attempts of current airport development are also reflective of reform driven, market oriented trajectory of urban development.  

 

C. Issues of SRA – Since the very beginning CRH was opposed to the program of market driven SRA. In an attempt to build public opinion various handbills, information booklets and other small publications were brought. One Public hearing was also conducted in collaboration with India Centre for Human Rights Law in the year 2004. CRH still adheres to its position of opposing the market driven policy but has restricted its role to only awareness on various problem areas in the scheme as CRH also recognizes some successful experiences of SRA.

 

CRH believes that SRA should not be the only alternative of rehabilitation made available to the slum dwellers and it holds on to its position that it should be the sole responsibility of government to construct housing for the poor and that the task should not be left to the devices of market.

 

During the last year we started work in the community of Siddharth Nagar with a fellow. Siddharth Nagar is a dalit settled community situated on prime land off the eastern express highway very close to Chembur station in Central Suburs of Mumbai. This is a recognized slum of 158 households clubbed on both sides by Gulshan Baugh and Panch sheel Nagar slums on both sides. This slum runs parallel to the P A Lokhande Marg. Under the vision of Slum free city of Maharashtra Government, the slum is under tremendous pressure to adopt the redevelopment scheme SRA. The slums dwellers are extremely skeptical about the builder and the secrecy he is maintaining in regard to sharing information. This has also resulted in some conflict from neighboring communities. The community has been in existence since before 1980. Residents have all documentary evidences to prove their eligibility. The builder has been pressurizing the community to agree to the SRA scheme he was proposing.  Currently trough our interventions the community people have been empowered and have been able to articulate their demands.
 

D. Work Around JNNURM and fellowship program  and Urban Resource Centre
CRH played a vital role in organizing a National Consultation in 2004 in Kharghar along with NAPM, YUVA and India Centre for Human Rights Law. A national level “Urban Struggle committee was given shape here. When the centre announced JNNURM it was felt that there is a need to bring together like minded organization to understand and articulate and build a platform for struggle. Keeping this in mind a consultation on JNNURM was organized in October 2005. The consultation was a big success. In the same consultation it was urged by the participating organizations to CRH to take upon themselves the building of Urban Resource Center and facilitate the dissemination of information in readable forms. Another outcome of the consultation was reemergence of CRH as an organization building capacities of other organizations working in the area of urban development.

 

Keeping this background in mind an urban resource center was setup. Though in its formative years but definitely taking shape, more resources and work needs to be done on this front for the urban resource to emerge as a space where information related to displacement, trajectory of urban development are mapped as well as reproduced to common people to build opinion on.

CRH was also urged to take responsibility of training and building capacities of organizations as well as communities. In the last one year many such program and trainings have been organized by CRH.  

 

 Our work in Maharashtra evolved from networking in these cities with like minded organizations. The network was then strengthened as our awareness programs, seminars and workshops increased and more and more organizations, traded unions were invited to participate. Currently we are working in 3 cities where JNNURM is to be implemented Maharashtra.