02 TEMPORARY FOREVER
The state agencies involved in the creation and management of this space are MMRDA and MCGM. They now believe that transit camps are a thing of the past. So, all those who were eligible are to be given permanent accommodations and all those who now live on the site are considered ‘encroachers’. Initially, MCGM was willing to consider allotting the land to the current occupants. However, it has now decided to review the eligibility status of occupants, demolish tenements, and ‘free’ the land of encroachers.
Transit Camp after demolitions in 2019
For the last ten years, residents of Transit Camp have been attempting to assert their rights to the place that they have stayed in for twenty years. Some steps have included installing an alternate water pipeline, applying for repairs to the public toilet, and engaging in a series of petitions and court cases to secure housing rights. These claims have not received a favourable response. On the contrary, the community has seen a wave of physical violence and the selective award of permanent tenements to some households, thereby eroding the morale of those trying to self-organise.
Public Toilet in Transit Camp
Temporariness creates a state of suspension. Housing and basic services are built to a lower standard since they are temporary and only worsen over time. Entitlements and proofs of residence are not transferred because they are temporary and hence subject to change. People are made dependent for services not on public agencies and officials but on intermediary agencies who manage relocation. How does this impact the life of inhabitants? And how long can such temporariness be extended? Isn’t such temporariness a form of violence?
