“Life here is worse than the slums,” said Vinod Narkar. This sentiment encapsulates the story of Lallubhai Compound.
Lallubhai Compound is a residential colony in Mankhurd, Mumbai. It is not just another housing complex. It is a place with a history.
The construction of Lallubhai Compound finished in 2003 under the Slum Rehabilitation Act. The colony consists of 72 buildings. There are both 5-storey and 7-storey buildings.
Lallubhai Compound houses people who once lived near Chembur, PD Mello Road, Matunga and Kurla railway stations. These people include slum and pavement dwellers. The colony has over 9300 residential tenements. Activists have called Lallubhai Compound a vertical slum.
Vinod Narkar once lived in a slum in Parel. He is now a resident of Lallubhai Compound. He says that life here is worse than the slums. Narkar is part of a group that carried out a social audit of Lallubhai Compound. The audit highlighted the struggles residents face. These struggles include access to food, water, education and cleanliness.
Lallubhai Compound is home to approximately 70000 tenants and 36000 residents. The residents created a thermacol model called “The future of LBC”. This model showed the residents’ aspirations. They want markets, schools, hospitals, social spaces and gardens in the compound. Narkar and his colleagues presented their model to local corporators and NGOs. They tried to raise awareness about the problems at Lallubhai Compound.
Lallubhai Compound was built under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project. SPARC assisted in the resettlement. Residents resent what they were promised versus what they received. One resident said they were moved 25 km away from their original chawl.
Sumitra Pawar said that buildings could also be slums. The only difference is that her previous dwelling was a horizontal slum and this one is a vertical slum.
There are many problems in Lallubhai Compound. There are no proper sanitation and drainage lines. Narrow alleys cause insufficient ventilation. Residents complain of leakage from pipes. This makes the compound slippery and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Waterborne diseases are common.
Residents often gather on the road divider because there are no safe public spaces. There is no public transportation. Many buildings do not have a working elevator.
Families get water for limited periods. Garbage collection is also a major issue. Mounds of garbage are a common sight.
There are no bank branches here. People mortgage jewellery to take loans at high-interest rates.
Residents feel alienated. Alka Patil lived in a chawl for 20 years before moving to Lallubhai Compound. She says that there is no sense of community here. She feels like a prisoner.
Lallubhai Compound is a nightmare of a resettlement project. It highlights the challenges of urban rehabilitation. It serves as a reminder that relocation is not always an improvement.