Date: 4th March 2019
Read Report: Draft Final report by IIT Bombay
Findings by the IIT Bombay report on the Project Affected People (PAP) in Mahul. The report finds several adverse effects on health and socio-economic well being of Mahul residents due to impractical location, poor infrastructure, polluted environment, ill-planned buildings and lack of government services.
Major findings-
- Shifting the township has been detrimental to economic status of PAP, resulting in an average of 30% decrease in income after shifting
- Apart from wage and income loss, there has been an additional cost burden due to inadequate schools, work opportunities and health infrastructure
- There are serious issues about water quality, sanitation and physical structure and maintenance of buildings.
- Womens health has been seriously affected
- Incidence of disease has increased manifold
- The hyper-dence compactly arranged building towers results in lack of adequate ventilation and a huge probability of higher pollutant concentration within the site that might have an adverse effect on occupants health and well being.
- Several areas are in complete shadow to do not receive direct sunlight which causes deficiencies and suppresses natural immunity
- Nearly every respondent faced a new illness themselves or in their families after shifting to Mahul. 80% respondents reported that when consulted with doctor, their illnesses were attributed to environmental conditions and pollution in Mahul
- There is considerable mixing of sewage and drinking water
- Average trip time and trip cost has increased considerably
- Most people have not been given fresh address proof and citizenship documents for accessing public facilities and amenities
- School facilities are grossly inadequate. There is a violation of Right to Education
- Existing Public Health Centres and few private practitioners are unable to cater to the health needs. Cases of TB are high.
The report concludes by saying that “to prevent further harm to lives and livelihoods, there seems no option other than to shift the entire population or sections of the population to safer places”
The report was prepared by Prof. D. Parthasarathy, Prof. A.B. Inamdar, Prof. Gopal Patil, Prof. Arnab Jana