informal sovereign
santosh bhavan nalasopara east
vallabhi agarwal akshit bordiya ishan desai prasad parab jenil sarvaiya
Table of Contents 01. Introduction and Methodology & Framework 02. Informal Sovereign Character Web 03. Exisiting Profile 04. Regional Plan 05. ULCRA & Land Grab 06. Deregularisation of Land 07. Vasai Virar Urbanisation 08. Water Crisis 09. Industrialization 10. VVMC 11. Conclusion 12. Bibliography
Abstract The report traces the evolution of Santosh Bhuvan, an informal neighborhood settlement in Nalasopara east, Mumbai. The report shows how the land evolves from agrarian areas to informal settlements before finally moving towards formalization of the area. It sheds light on various factors like political powers, industrialization, peri urbanization, migration and overpopulation that played an important role in the changing land use pattern in the area. The later part of the report details out the existing conditions of the neighborhood in terms of physical infrastructure, topography and amenities available today. It builds an understanding of the neighborhood and the processes that occur there. Thus ,through the tracing of the evolution, the report attempts to understand the processes involved in the formalization of a place and of migrants in a city.
Panoramic view of neigbourhood street
01. Introduction
Nalasopara east, a suburb adjacent to Mumbai city is an area considered as green zone in the development plans. However, the region has seen fast paced development in recent times. Owing to the fact that the region comes under the green belt, this development is considered illegal and faces the threat of destruction. Santosh bhavan is one such ‘illegal‘ housing colony in Nalasopara east. It consists of people who were evicted from the main city of Mumbai, as well as migrants from northern states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, etc.. Santosh Bhavan faces various issues such as high crime rate, lack of health & sanitation and a lack of infrastructure. The colony, which largely remains ignored by the government has it’s own hierarchy of power structures with their own rules and regulations which define how it was formed and continues to thrive. Through the tracing of the evolution and changing land use of the neighborhood of Santosh Bhavan, the report also addresses the larger idea about processes that take place in the neighbourhood to make individuals a part of the formal urban realm and provide basic necessary amenities.
Chawl settlements in Santosh Bhavan
Rapid urbanization in Vasai Virar. Source - TU DELFT
Scales of maps used in the report
Vasai Virar
Santosh Bhavan
Test Neigbourhood
Methodology & Framework The study and the subsequent report tries to question the nature of the socio spatial transformation of the Nalasopara region in last twenty years. It tries to question and identify various drivers that resulted in the uneven urban form that exists in Nalasopara today. The study tries to understand the urban form both at a neighborhood level using Santosh bhuvan as a case study and at a larger scale of Vasai Virar region and tries to draw relationships between the events that characterized both. The study was conducted through various means. We studied the region at a larger scale after which we zoomed into a small part of the neighbourhood. The study was looked at from a both a socio political view where various characters and their role in the development of the urban form were studied. These characters are often referred to and used as tools to help understand the development throughout the report. Site visits were conducted where we took interviews of people from various sectors in the area to get a holistic idea of the neighborhood. Ground research was also conducted online owing to the pandemic situation. Various Academic papers and internet sources were read and analyzed to develop an understanding of the neighborhood in terms of maps. Various newspaper reports and articles were referred to during research on the neighborhood.
02. Informal Sovereign Character Web Santosh Bhavan, being an illegal settlement in a green zone, falls outside the formal governing systems set in place. Subsequently, the area saw the emergence of several informal powers which played a pivotal role in developing the urban form of the neighborhood as it exists today. The character web draws out the hierarchy of power as well as the roles of several organisations, politicians and locals played in the evolution of the urban network.
2000s
03. Exisiting Profile
Santosh bhuvan, located in Nalasopara east, Mumbai is an informal and dense settlement, characterized by poor infrastructure and services. The neighbourhood is located near the Nalasopara station which connects the region to the main Bombay city. The neighbourhood largely consists of housing colonies of migrant workers. The main occupations that dominate
the region are those of industrial workers and rickshaw drivers. The neighbourhood has a large market area ‘Naka’ adjacent to Pehlar road, which acts as the socio economic hub for the region.
04. Regional Plan
The first regional plan carved out an area known as Vasai Virar sub region. The area comprised of Nalasopara, Virar, Navghar Manikpur, forty seven villages, two industrial zones and agriculture and forest land. The area was 380 sq.km..
1973
SANTOSH BHAVAN - DEVELOPMENT PLAN RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL
PROPOSED & WIDENING GREEN ZONE
PUBLIC & SEMI PUBLIC
WATER BODIES
ROAD
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04. Regional Plan Aadivasi People Before urbanisation took place, the region was dominated by aadivasi settlements and forest dwellers in earlier times. The professions practiced were largely agriculture and animal husbandry. Periurbanisation, large scale migration and the pressures of overpopulation led to the erasure of these settlements. The change in land use pattern transformed the region from a predominantly agricultural area to neighbourhoods of illegal dwellings.
Various activities carried out by the aadivasi people
1973
Hypothesized map of Santosh Bhavan before urbanisation
04. Regional Plan - Present
SANTOSH BHAVAN CONTOUR PLAN
The region lies on a slope. The existing topography and contours generates the water flow over the neighbourhood, where further low lying regions are shown. Flooding is one of the a major issues faced by the neighborhood.
2021
TEST NEIGHBOURHOOD - HYDROLOGY PLAN WATER FLOW
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05. ULCRA & Land Grab The ULCRA (Urban Land Ceiling Act) was passed in 1976 to achieve an equal allocation of land in urban agglomerations in order to serve the common good. When the act come into force, most of Vasai-Virar area fell outside the purview of the act, which inturn attracted the builders who had mostly neglected the land in the past due to pure infrastructure and paucity of sweet water. This laid the foundation of the urbanisation of the Vasai-Virar region.
Maps showing density growth in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region over time
1975
The graph depicts the events hat occurred during these years, with the ULCRA act and land grab concerns taking centre stage.
05. ULCRA & Land Grab
Local Powers Ramprasad Gupta The story of Santosh Bhavan, is also the stopy of the political identity of Ramprasad Gupta. He first came here in 1986 in hope of employment in the industries. Although an ordinary rickshaw driver, Gupta saved enough to open a tea stall and eventually bought land for cheap from the adivasis. During the migration in the 2000s, Gupta provided land and housing for the homeless, and turned them into builders. This act turned him into the local big man.
1975
Like most of the migrants, he started driving a rickshdaw and then saved enough to open a small tea stall
Ramprasad bought land from aadivasi’s for cheap before the 2000s migration.
He would distribute vadapav to the migrants from the kandivali floods, thus gaining their acceptance
He gained power by selling land at very cheap rates to the migrants from the 2000s migration. He made everyone into builders.
05. ULCRA & Land Grab - Present Santosh Bhavan is a community of migrants and employees from all across the city. Some are employed as day labourers at the naka, while others own small businesses in the neighbourhood. These people are daily wage labourers, and are under the constant threat of starvation if work for the day is not found. Some residents also work in the Waliv industrial zone. Most of the women work as maids for houses in main Mumbai city. The region faces a number of challenges, including lack of infrastructure, high crime rate, poor health and inadequate sanitation. The colony, which is mostly disregarded by the government, has its own hierarchy of power structures, as well as its own set of laws and regulations that explain how it was established and continues to exist.
Sketches showing exisiting pause points on the streets
Collage depeticing on site observations
2021
SANTOSH BHAVAN NOLLI PLAN - POSITIVE BUILT FORM
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06. Deregularisation of Land
Source - Hindustan Times
Development and urbanization characterized the growth in Vasai-Nalasopara and Virar region during the 1990’s as a way to decongest the main city of Bombay. The region, about 50 km from Bombay, saw particular growth around Local train stations. The local train stations which were important commute routes to the main city for employment created conducive conditions for further development. The first regional plan had initially focused on the growth of new Mumbai and did not lay emphasis on the development of the Vasai Virar sub-region which lay under the green zone. Modifications were made in the plan which permitted only certain amount of development in the area around 3 suburban railway stations, viz. Vasai Road, Nalasopara and Virar and included the rest of the area of Vasai Taluka in Green Zone. The State Govt. made a modification under Sec.20(4) of the M.R. & T.P. Act and carved out an area along the western railway and the Diva-Vasai railway to be converted into urbanizable zone. The urbanization that took place in the area was highly informal. While these nodes were opened up strategically for development, there was no public investment planned. This resulted in a pattern of informal, highly privatized urbanization. Virar, Nallasopara, Vasai Road and Naigaon railway stations are connected to the National Highway and to the coastal villages, by separate roads running in the east-west direction. Presently it can be termed termed as the dormitory of Mumbai, resulting into unidirectional commuting during the peak hours.
1988
VASAI-VIRAR PLAN WATER
LESS DENSE REGION
GREEN BELT
HIGHLY DENSE REGION
07. Vasai Virar Urbanisation
Sadan Ali and Chaurasiya both own shops on the street and have their houses in nearby gullys
Some inhouse machines are also set up in place of commercial units
Residents depend on day to day wages and do usually do not have a guarentee for their next mea l
Most of the women go for work in the main city for maid jobs.
1988
Some homescale jobs are set up in the houses such as jwellery marking
Women are now being employed in factories and NGOs provide sewing machines too.
07. Vasai Virar Urbanisation - Present
Collage portraying the naka and its importance to the people & the the infamous builder industry of nalasopara east
Amenities Santosh Bhavan suffers from a serious shortage of basic facilities. People have to go outside for basic treatment due to poor health care services in the neighbourhood. In the event of a medical emergency, residents would travel to Bilalpada as it is the nearest hospital in the region. There is also a lack of communal spaces and educational infrastructure in Santosh Bhavan. People have little choice but to travel to Waliv or Mumbai for employment. Dwellings here are of the gala type, which is essentially a 10x20 feet area, held down by rolling shutters and topped with a patra style roof. 12 of these galas are made together and share amenities like toilets. These are called a ‘Guntha’. Some collection of gunthas are often given derogatory names like ‘Kargil’ where there are concentrations of a certain religion of people.
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AMENITIES TEMPLE
MARKET
MOSQUE
SCHOOL
CHURCH
HOSPITAL
GOVERNMENT
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07. Vasai Virar Urbanisation - Present
Spine Road
Pedestrian Road
Gully
Transportation Aside from the major Pehlar road, most of the roads here fall outside the government juridiction and hence is badly taken care of. Major mode of mobility here is on foot or in rickshaws. Pehlar road connects to the Nalasopara railway station which is an important commute point for people traveling to the main city. There are three major kinds of roads in Santosh Bhavan- the two way roads and a central road spine , inner pedestrian roads, and the gullys. The two way roads are used for two and three wheelers while the gullies are pedestrianized. The road conditions are abysmal. The infrastructure is poorly built and consists of kachha roads, with open sewers and pipes running over the roads. The roads are littered with garbage and filth and lack a uniform surface.
2021
ROAD LAYOUT PLAN OPEN SPACES
TWO-WAY ROAD
SPINE
PEDESTRIAN ROAD
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08. Water Crisis
Source - The Indian express
Along with its proximity to the creek and the low-lying location, the area surrounding the train station was extremely saline. The maps to the right depict the effect on ponds in Santosh Bhavan in 5 years due to population growth. Many of these ponds were filled in and utilised as building sites. This resulted in an increase in water scarcity in the area. The east began to experience water scarcity, prompting authorities to invest in a tanker company. The people’s major supply of water relocated to the west, where communities and wells were the main sources of water. Water tankers, which used to supply water to the east, saw an upsurge in business as a result of this which also gave birth to the infamous water mafias. This increased the tension between the eastern peri-urban settlements and the age old villages of the west.
1989
Maps showing disappearance of ponds in Santosh Bhavan over time
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08. Water Crisis Villages of the West Fr.D’ Britto The Paani Andolan and the activities of the Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti (HVSS) were direct responses to tankers’ unregulated and large-scale extraction of water for urban areas within the region. Fr. D’Britto was elected as the first HVSS convener.The campaign had mixed success. The water extraction techniques got more sophisticated but it created a greater divide between east and west.
1989
08. Water Crisis - Present
Bore wells & Hand pumps
Exposed pipe networks on roads
Community taps & industrial containers
Water Supply Communities are provided tap water by the BMC at particular times during which people gather there to fill water. Other methods used are tankers, wells and hand pumps. Like all other amenities, water is a scarcity in the region and the locals are often unable to access adequate amount of water. The water scarcity also resulted in water thefts wherein even after the water crisi, water was brought illegally to the east and sold there. The illegal water smuggling became a business venture in the neighbourhood.
1989
Schematic section showing handpumps
Handpumps, taps and water drums located in each guntha
08. Water Crisis - Present Grey Water system After the formation of the VVMC, the grey water system was connected to the main VVMC line. The grey water is taken from smaller areas upto the main Pehlar road and is finally dumped untreated in the sea. The infrastructure of the system is extremely poor. There are broken pipes which lie on the ground as the network is not made at the sametime, but rather pipes are installed as & when new houses are built. Exisiting pipes get damaged in this process & grey water flows on the streets forming puddles. This causes extreme issues of health and hyiene as dirty water remains stagtnant on the roads right next to galas.
Schematic sketch showing the grey water connections running in the gullys
1989
TEST NEIGHBOURHOOD-WATER SUPPLY/GREY WATER SYSTEM SPINE WATER FLOW
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08. Water Crisis - Present
Schematic section for black water sewage
Community Toilets All settlements within Santosh Bhavan have a community toilet that provides for each guntha. Each toilet is connected to a septic tank. These septic tanks are only cleaned if overflow takes place and the overflow is directed to open gutters in the locality. The black water system is not regulated by the VVMC at all. Instead, the toilets are constructed by the residents of the community themselves. The residents who use the toilets call a septic tank cleaner and pay them from their own pockets periodically.
2021
TEST NEIGHBOURHOOD - COMMUNITY TOILET PLAN 0 COMMUNITY TOILETS
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09. Industrialization
Source - Sethia Industrial Park from Google Maps Street View
After the rise of informal political powers, the region saw major industrial development in areas such as Waliv. This further created conducive conditions for people to migrate to Santosh Bhuvan and the Vasai Virar sub region. The industrial policy of the state government had spurred the re-location of industries from Mumbai that were deemed polluting to the MMR and many small-scale industries had shifted to the area designated as ‘industrial’ around Waliv, Gokhiware and Sativali villages. Seizing this opportunity, the Bahujan Vikas Agadhi party created conducive conditions for poorer migrants to informally settle in Green Zone land close to the industrial estate of Waliv. This two-pronged strategy resulted in an influx of new settlers, in legal and illegal habitations, that greatly enhanced the vote base of the informal sovereign. This support base had little connections with agriculture or land; they therefore did not identify with the struggles and suffering that land-owning communities in the West had earlier experienced and felt complete loyalty to the informal sovereign.
2004
2004
Series of maps depicting growth of industry in and around Santosh Bhavan
2010
2020
LEGEND INDUSTRIAL RESIDENTIAL ROADS
09. Industrialization
Factory Workers Nilesh is a typical industrial worker in Santosh Bhavan who migrated from Bihar to find work in Bombay. With the industrial boom in the region, like all other industrial workers, Nilesh bought a gala in Santosh Bhuvan which is located strategically near the Waliv industrial region. His daily routine consists of walking down from the main route that interconnects Santosh Bhuvan and Waliv to his employer’s steel factory.
2004
10. Formation of VVMC
The VVMC was formed by merging four municipal councils (Virar, Nalasopara, Vasai and NavgharManikpur) and 53 villages. Upon declaration of the VVMC, the Gram Panchayats of these villages, a majority of which lay in the Catholic dominated western belt of Vasai-Virar, were dissolved. Thus at one stroke, the village governance institutions that were a site for local decision- making and mobilization were dealt a death blow and the Bahujan Vikas Agadhi party had the chance to control the lands of the entire region, including villages in the coastal belt, legitimately through the VVMC. This did not eliminate resistance to the merger however. Villagers discussed how they were well aware that being included within the VVMC meant being completely under the control of the informal sovereign. Protesting villagers spearheaded the agitation against inclusion of their villages in the newly formed VVMC through forming the Vasai Gaav Vachva Jan Andolan Samiti. Establishment of the VVMC allowed for formal government services such as freshwater and garbage collection possible even in the green zone of Santosh Bhavan. Along with the VVMC, several NGOs have been established in the region that work on citizen relief such as helping provide jobs for women, making official documents for the migrants, paying bills online, conducting tuiton classes and hobby classes for children, etc.. As a whole, the VVMC and the NGOs have similar goals,but act in different ways. The two following character studies help to understand this.
2009
VASAI-VIRAR VVMC SECTOR DIVISION PLAN
10. Formation of VVMC - Present
Party Worker
Stray animals are taken care of
Rahul Chaurasiya, age 25, has studied upto 15th standard in computer science - a stark contrast to the rest of the youth. Originally migrated from Kandivali during the 2006 floods, his studies happened there too. He works in his office of the Bahujan Vikas Agadhi, the majority party of the area. He handles the grievances of the people in his neighbourhood such as enrolling children in school, getting woman residents employed at the factories, arranging for medicines and rations during lockdown, etc..
He pays for tuition fees for families who cannot afford
2009
d it
Rations were distrubuted during the covid-19 lockdowns
Chaurasiya often heads to the police station to free the teens of the locacity who get involved in petty crime.
He also provides medical aid in terms of finances as well as procuring medicines.
Permanent roads are being built by influence of Chaurasiya
10. Formation of VVMC - Present
NGO Mahesh Shinde is the founder of the ‘I Support Care’ NGO in Santosh Bhavan. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bhawans College in Andheri. His main objective is to educate the youth in that area, as they are lacking in direction. Furthermore, his efforts to educate children inspire them to pursue their goals and desires, which they may then work toward. He also helps migrants get their legal documents in order and avail of several welfare programs.
2009
11. Conclusion Santosh Bhavan, being a settlement that falls outside the purview of the formal government faces several issues today. The most severe issues being that of lack of basic amenities and fuctions within the area. Incremental planning statergy can be proposed as an urban intervention idea in order to better equip residents with amenities. Phase 1 can look at physical improvement of infrastructure such as roads, drainage systems and waste management. Phase 2 can then look at smaller urban intervention ideas that would provide additional amenities to the people and create spaces for the them gather. Phase 3 would consist of larger infrastructural development such as medical facility, skill development center, youth center. The final phase would provide an alternative way of planning for housing.
12. Bibliography https://www.mhada.gov.in/en https://www.epw.in/journal/1991/8/roots-specials/land-grab-bombay-style-urban-developmentvasai-virar-hinterland-bombay https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:0b16866a-3a32-4012-b80b-f05dcbc59c8e City building and regime creations in the peripheries for Mumbai- Radhika Raj and Lalitha Kamath http://www.loginmumbai.org/ https://cidco.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/other/Combined_Report.pdf https://www.scribd.com/document/361804956/Vasai-Virar-Development-Plan-Report https://mmrhcs.org.in/images/documents/projects/precinct-studies/agashi_talao_precinct_vasai_ virar/stage-1.pdf https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/conversation-corner-vasai-virar-the-new-promisedland-1673364 https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/notes-from-the-suburbs-in-nallasoparachhotapakistan-residents-continue-to-fight-a-stigma-5090111/ Vasai Virar City Development Plan under scheme of UID in Satellite Towns http://mohua.gov.in https://www.businesstoday.in https://www.mchi.net/newsletter https://cadmapper.com https://www.mapbox.com The interviews with Mahesh Shinde from the ‘I Support Care’ NGO and Rahul Chaurasiya from the Bahujan Vikas Agadhi party gave us first hand information about the lives of the residents of Santosh Bhavan as well as the role of the Government and NGOs in an informal settlement such as this one.
All drawings, maps and photos are made/shot by the group unless mentioned otherwise.