MUMBAI, May 13 -- The Mumbai Port Authority (MbPA) on Tuesday began a major demolition drive against what it said were encroachments on its land near Kavala Bunder in Darukhana, leaving hundreds of slum dwellers bereft. The slum dwellers, who claimed they had documents to prove they had been living on the site for decades and were thus protected by law, were backed by NGOs and politicians from several parties, including the BJP, Shiv Sena and Sena (UBT). Mumbai South MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant has written to PM Narendra Modi to protect the hutments. The MbPA is the biggest landlord in Mumbai, and large chunks of its lands are encroached. Most of these structures are pre-1995 and come under Maharashtra's policy of protecting huts constructed till January 1, 2000. However, Centre-governed institutions have always maintained that this policy does not apply to them. The demolitions left slum dwellers out in the blazing summer. Salaam Shaikh, a resident, said, "The demolition began at 7 am and finished by 11 am. Children and women are on the streets." Salaam said he had a ground-plus-one structure, which he had rented out. "We had appealed in the court but the formalities were not complete," he said. Another resident, Sultan Shaikh, said, "The MbPA served a demolition notice, but we have all been part of government surveys which placed us as residents before 1995. We have all the requisite documents but the MbPA still claims we are encroachers." MbPA chairperson N Angamutthu did not respond to multiple calls. Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora and BJP minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha have also come out in support of the hutment dwellers. "MbPA has not followed its own orders," said Lodha. "Many of these residents have lived there since the 1990s. One of the residents is an Arjuna Award winner. I have appealed to MbPA and I will now meet its senior officers." Sawant has written a letter to the PM and asked for immediate intervention. "These citizens have been residing in these localities for over 40 years and are duly regularised as per the laws and cut-off policies of the Government of Maharashtra," says the letter. "To render them homeless at this juncture, especially with the monsoon fast approaching, is a grave violation of social justice." The Sena (UBT) leader said it was "distressing" to note the Mumbai Port Authority's claim that it had no rehabilitation policy. "This stance is in direct contradiction to the advisory issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), which clearly mandates that in-situ rehabilitation must be provided for all hutment dwellers occupying land belonging to the Central Government or PSUs, fulfilling the promise of dignified housing," says his letter. "The Authority is using the proactive protection of the Mumbai Police to threaten and displace the poor."...