NO RIVER THIS: Army and Navy boats were used to supply essential commodities for the residents of Indian Airlines Colony at Kalina in northwest Mumbai on Monday. — PHOTO: Vivek Bendre

MUMBAI: Non-government organisations (NGOs), local groups and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) have tried to provide some measure of relief to Mumbai's slum areas which are the worst affected by the flooding over the past week after unprecedented rain in the city.

Over 50 per cent of Mumbai leads a tenuous existence in the slums, which were faced with a series of demolitions six months ago. As rain continued on Monday also, hundreds are homeless and face a severe crisis of food, shelter and clothing in these areas. In some cases, individuals and groups have started relief work on their own and are going door-to-door collecting clothes, foodgrains and medicines.

With the looming threat of diseases due to contaminated water and poor sanitation, community groups are trying their best to provide medical assistance and food. The continuing rain has hampered the relief work somewhat. Dr. S. Parasuraman, TISS director, told The Hindu that the first priority was to assess the situation in the slums of Mankhurd, Govandi and Deonar (in northeast Mumbai), which are located near the municipal dumping grounds, as well as those in the western suburbs. A situation analysis carried out in these slums revealed that people were suffering from water borne diseases on a large scale.

Water-borne disease

"We have 20 of our medical doctors in various slum areas conducting clinics and counselling people on taking simple precautions on health like boiling water or purifying it with chlorine tablets," he said. However, the needs of the people are greater than what a single agency can achieve, he said. Since Tuesday when the deluge began, TISS staff pooled in about Rs. 20,000 for medicines and supplied them to the area. On Monday too, another Rs. 25,000 was spent on medical supplies to the people.

People were still living in knee-deep water in many slums in northeast Mumbai and they had no electricity, clean water and there were issues related to sanitation too. The government had demolished many of the slums in the area and the situation was already serious in terms of housing and basic amenities. "There is no dry place for people to cook," said Dr. Parasuraman. Most of these slums are near the dumping ground, which is a health hazard, and people already suffer from poor nutrition and contaminated water.

"The government needs to make concerted efforts to provide immediate relief. Though garbage was being collected and some places were being disinfected, more needs to be done," he said. The government has to set up relief kitchens and provide people with cooked food and clean water to minimise the occurance of diseases, he stressed.

Neha Madhiwala of Sahyog, an NGO, which works in the Jari Mari area near Kurla in eastern Mumbai, said that people living close to the flooded Mithi River were evacuated last week. People have been taking shelter in the nearby Hari Masjid and other public buildings. It is the local people who are running a community kitchen. "Since last Thursday we bought and distributed 3000 chlorine tablets and from tomorrow over 25,000 tablets will be distributed," she said.

Garbage, main problem

The main problem here is garbage, which has piled up on the streets. Another issue here as in other slums is that all ration cards have been lost and it would be a struggle to get new ones.

It was not only essential items that people craved for but also some reassurance. Leena Joshi, director, Apnalaya, said that the unprecedented deluge has shocked people and left them stunned. "At least by visiting these people we have let them feel there is somebody for them. The top priority was providing food and water in the slums in northeast Mumbai. We are focusing on 2000 to 3000 families in this area," Ms. Joshi said. She admitted that NGOs could only carry out a limited amount of work and the government had to basically restore the power, provide clean water and cooking fuel. The public distribution system needs to be restarted on a priority basis, she said.

The National Alliance of People Movements (NAPM), which is a coalition of people's groups, mobilised relief work from last Wednesday itself, according to Simpreet Singh. "We are engaged in providing temporary shelters in many slums in Mumbai as people are homeless. Medical camps are being held in various slums too and the biggest problem people were facing was skin diseases. The majority of the sufferers are children and old people," he said. Community kitchens are distributing food in some of the slums since Wednesday and foodgrains were also being distributed. "There is no government relief in any of these slum areas where anyway on normal days too there is no supply of drinking water. There are no lights and people are suffering from lack of shelter," he said.

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