As one enters the Air India staff colony in Kalina in Mumbai one is struck by the large football field, a lovely sight right at the entrance.
The ground is now full of overgrown grass. It is a very big complex with abundant greenery and other very large open spaces.
With the forthcoming privatization we will lose this vital space. It is these open spaces that keep Mumbai still alive, we can breathe. With more and more skyscrapers coming up due to anti people policies of the government big heat islands are coming up.
It is not just big grounds like Shivaji Park and Azad Maidan that are oxygen spots in Mumbai, such large housing colonies in the public sector are. This fact is seldom realized. All these colonies need to be saved. May be some development may be inevitable in the near future but it ought to be held in check for the survival of the metropolis.
That the residents of the Air India colony have been asked to leave within six months is obviously thoughtless, can one imagine the plight, getting admission to school for kids can be one of the daunting tasks. There are numerous buildings, ground plus two storey structures with balconies with jaali.
The Kalina colony apparently has its origin in the Tata ownership days, at the other end of the colony is a school where the board says it was set up in 1962, it means much before nationalization. The school is now run by the residents’ association.
Walking in the complex can be an absolute delight, it is so quiet, the roads are a little too wide considering there is very little vehicular traffic. Very few people are visible. I asked a girl resident taking a walk and she people are very much staying in the colony though it looks deserted.
There is also a park for children with playing equipment.
On the other side of the road is an equally pleasant housing colony of Indian Airlines. This too has a pleasant entrance. On the left is a big school with a large green playground and in the front there is a sprawling maidan with a lot of grass. On the other side is a Buddha vihar and an Ayyappa temple.
Here the buildings, ground plus three storeyes, appear a little better maintained and painted but as an exception one is in decay and abandoned.
The disastrous effect of privatization of public sector spaces with public amenities is visible in many places if one cares to notice.
Last week I went to the redeveloped, commercialised Mahim bus station of the municipal BEST transport undertaking. A 24 storey building luxury Kanakia Miami standing on the BEST plot completely dominates the original user and is an eye sore though it is touted for its luxury.
The luxury building was ready more than two years ago, the bus station had remained closed several years earlier and in the last two years as well and was inaugurated by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on August 7.
A month after the inauguration, the computerised system for bus operations here has not started working. There is no board outside saying the bus station has opened.
There are bus stops with shelter inside but without any information about the destination, not to speak of the route or other details.
The stainless steel bus stop design is as shoddy, anti people as in other parts of the city . Sitting on the narrow strip of a bench would be very uncomfortable during long waits for less frequent bus routes like one going all the way to distant Mira road in the western suburb.
The builder was supposed to provide staff quarters which are not there, there is specific mention of the obligation to build these as I noticed in high court proceedings in the media. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hc-go-ahead-for-mahim-bus-depot-revamp-luxury-tower/articleshow/65892562.cms
The original four storey BEST administrative building is there, mercifully it is not demolished. But this redevelopment has of course vastly reduced the space of the original plot and there is just enough space for buses to manage entry from the S.V. road side and come out on the road goes towards Mahim railway station.
There is a huge terrace above the bus operation area which perhaps in the original plan was to have been used for BEST use. Now, the builder has used it to provide all sorts of luxuries like including a swimming pool.
A board at the entrance of the tower mentions a facility of golf putting and a badminton court but the swimming pool is not mentioned but it is there.
It seems all the 34 apartments are sold out and the builder must have made a lot of money. It would be worth finding out if he has paid fully for the land, some other occupants of such leased spaces have not paid their dues to the public sector owner.
There are still many large public sector undertakings in the country with lakhs of employees and these can become a major force of resistance. Many of these undertakings command thousands of acres of prime space. We desperately need to save the organisations and the spaces.
An All India forum against privatisation has now been set up and it is organising some useful webinars I have attended.
During one webinar last week Mr Shiv Gopal Mishra, chief of the All India Railwaymen’s federation, felt the government has been talking about privatisation of railways for years but it has been able to do little so far and we should not worry too much.
However, we should not take the privatisation talk lightly.
Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist and author of a book on democratisation of urban transport and governance
