Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan

A demolition on 2 and 3 April 2013 in the Golibar area, Mumbai, Maharashtra evicting 43 houses and displacing more than 200 people, was the backdrop against which the movement was born.

[3] Following the demolition of 75,000 houses of the poor by the Government of Maharashtra in 2005, Medha Patkar and others addressed a public meeting at Azaad Maidan Mumbai advocating mass action, that the communities re-build their houses on the same sites, and continue to assert and attain their right to shelter, water, electricity, sanitation, and livelihood.

The successful outcome of protest with the Bombay High Courts judgment in favour of the residents is a landmark victory for citizen housing movements in Mumbai.

This was done by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in accordance to the 2009 Bombay High Court order to remove slums along the main water pipelines in the city and keep a 10-metre buffer zone around them.

The high level of toluene in the air led to the 2015 interim judgement by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that stated Mahul was “unfit for human habitation.

[8] A report by NGO Vishwashanti Lokkalyan in July 2018 found that 60% of the residents faced a health issue because of the polluted environment.

The presently active centre is in Shivaji Nagar in Chembur West coordinated by Mr. Gulab Ansari, who is a resident of the respective slum.

It fights corruption, malpractices, and protests against the accumulation of resources like land in the hands of a few, and advocates for better implementation of laws related to slum rehabilitation.