Mumbai: Meghwadi Chawl Residents Claim Coercion in Redevelopment
MUMBAI: Residents of the historic Meghwadi chawl in Dharavi are not just opposing a redevelopment plan but are also facing a systematic campaign of intimidation and harassment aimed at displacing families who have lived there for generations. The issue escalated after an urgent seven-day eviction notice was issued by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) last December, with claims of local thugs, possibly politically motivated, pressuring residents to leave their homes. The nearly 150-year-old Meghwadi chawl, formerly known as Central Railway Patra chawl, contains around 80 hutments housing approximately 350 residents, including many seniors and children. Many of them have ancestral…