A year and three months on, Jai Bhim Nagar demolished

Most of the 650 families in the basti have scattered elsewhere; of the remaining 100 that braved over a year of monsoon, mosquitos, illnesses, limited water supply, dirty toilets, and safety issues to stand their ground for their homes, 60 were evicted on Thursday

Mumbai: A year and three months after it first lifted the axe, the BMC on Thursday completed the demolition of one side of the Jai Bhim Nagar basti in Powai. By 5pm, it had successfully broken the makeshift homes of 60 families along the footpath on Central Avenue, most having scrambled for alternate accommodation. This time around, unlike the violent demolition on June 6, 2024, the civic body was equipped with an order from the Bombay High Court, dated August 12.

Mumbai, India - August 21, 2025: After the demolition of the Jai Bhim Nagar slum in Powai, residents who had built temporary homes on the footpaths were evicted today, as the BMC demolished their huts following the Supreme Court’s order in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, August 21, 2025. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The recent demolitions sprung from a petition in the HC filed in July by the Tivoli and Evita Cooperative Housing Society in Powai, located in front of the basti, against the encroachment of the footpath. While the residents of Jai Bhim Nagar - forced out onto the footpath after the basti was demolished - attempted to stop the demolitions a second time around on Monday, the HC did not allow them relief.

“They took our homes once, and now they’re kicking us out from the footpath,” said Santosh, a resident of the basti who was among the 20 remaining residents still waiting on the footpath with their belongings after the demolitions, wondering what to do. But with heavy police presence around, they knew their time was limited, unless they wanted to risk detention or arrest. “I will probably take my extended family of 8, including children, to a room of a friend’s. We have no other choice.”

The notice for demolition was pasted on the footpath on August 9. That, plus the HC order warning them of the impending demolition - initially scheduled for this Monday, but postponed due to another hearing and the rains - gave the residents enough notice to make alternate arrangements.

“Most of the residents had already moved their belongings, some rented homes in other parts of Powai,” said Huma Namal, one of those who set up the volunteer-based Sabki Library in the basti and were helping them out. “A few planned to move to the road behind, 90-feet-road, where another around 40 residents of the basti have been staying.”

This third option was not available to them on Thursday, as police barricades were preventing movement there.

As the demolition was being carried out midst the monsoon months, the BMC’s L ward offered the residents a list of shelter homes they could choose to move into. But as this option came with the rider that the men would be separated from women and children, the residents were not inclined. Santosh added, “The shelter is only for the two remaining monsoon months, and is not necessarily available here. Our work, our kid’s schools are here, what will we do going so far, separated, and only for a few days?”

Begrudgingly, while most of the residents had moved, an anger brewed among them. After the demolitions in June last year, they had filed a criminal case in the HC arguing the demolitions were illegal; this was proved right, and police officers and civic officials charged in an FIR. There has been little progress on the case post the FIR, with reduced political will, and their plans of approaching the court with a civil case to demand rehabilitation has not moved forward. All this while, most of the 650 families in the basti have scattered elsewhere; of the remaining 100 that braved over a year of monsoon, mosquitos, illnesses, limited water supply, dirty toilets, and safety issues to stand their ground for their homes, 60 were evicted on Thursday.