Struggling for Basics: Bainganwadi Residents Battle Poor Sanitation, Health Issues, and Neglected Infrastructure | File Photo
Mumbai: The latest ethnographic research by the students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) ‘The Politics of Stagnation: Development at Impasse in Bainganwadi’ highlighted the lack of development in Bainganwadi and Shivaji Nagar areas in Mumbai’s M/East ward. The report raises concerns over issues related to sanitation, health and infrastructure in the area.
Saptaparna Samajdar and Tarsh Verma, students of Media and Cultural Studies at TISS recently prepared an urban ethnographic research about the lack of development in Shivaji Nagar’s Bainganwadi area.
The research report emphasised that Baiganwadi remains underdeveloped, with residents struggling for basic amenities like sanitation, health and infrastructure.
The report also highlighted land ownership issues as residents live on collector’s land without clear ownership and making them vulnerable to political exploitation. It also pointed that the lack of civic body elections has left the community without proper leadership to address their issues.
The report focused on the health concerns of the residents of Bainganwadi and attributed severe illnesses like typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, respiratory and skin diseases to pollution, contaminated water, open nullahs, Deonar dumping ground and the biomedical waste treatment plant.
The report said that while local clinics look after maternity, dental and homeopathic services, people with serious issues have to be referred to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar or Chembur’s Shatabdi Hospital.
While the locality has a new operational government hospital nearby, it struggles with an inconsistent supply of medical professionals, resulting in being an unreliable source of treatment. Tuberculosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) were ranked as the three most prevalent ailments in the neighbourhood.
The report called out the SMS Envoclean Biomedical Waste Treatment Plant as one of the major points of contention. It noted that a public interest litigation has been filed against the plant by locals accusing the plant of being responsible for multiple workplace violations and the respiratory issues of the residents.
It noted that the plant was set up in 2009 without an environmental clearance or public consultation although it is located in close proximity to densely populated areas like Zakir Hussain Nagar, Kamla Raman Nagar and Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar which are within a 50 metre radius.
The report also said that Baiganwadi is a cesspool of multiple political discrepancies as although water pipelines have reached the homes of people, marking an improvement in the last decade, it is used strategically to guilt voters time and again into siding with the incumbent MLA.
This leaves the residents voting in solidarity and living in a constant state of paranoia. They tend to avoid asking for basic amenities in the fear that they might lose what they already have, said the report.
