Brother Peter Paul Raj of the GOOD SAMARITAN Mission has announced his intention to go on a ONE DAY
HUNGER STRIKE (UPOSHAN) on January 1, 2014 at the AZAD MAIDAN in Mumbai to
protest DEMOLITIONS in India,
particularly in Mumbai…“Do not worry
about money or anything. God will help you and provide everything for you to
help the poor” with these words of Mother Teresa, he founded the MISSION on
May 26, 1996 after working for over 10 years with the Mother at the
Missionaries of Charities… alarming increase in population of underprivileged
and homeless people… DEMOLITIONS ARE A NATIONAL LOSS…Home’s where the Heart is!
December 24, 2013 -
Mumbai – Brother Peter Paul Raj has announced his intention to go on a ONE
DAY HUNGER STRIKE (UPOSHAN) on January 1, 2014 at the AZAD MAIDAN in Mumbai to
protest DEMOLITIONS in India,
particularly in Mumbai.
“Do not worry about money or anything. God will help you and provide
everything for you to help the poor” with these words of Mother Teresa, and
her blessings, Brother Peter Paul Raj founded the GOOD SAMARITAN MISSION on May
26, 1996 on an inspiration from God after working for over 10 years with the Mother
at the Missionaries of Charities.
The Mission a Registered
Charitable Trust (Registration No.: E-15717 Mumbai), a secular organization in
the service of the Nation’s underprivileged, serves children who are orphaned,
mentally challenged, from the streets, and from the slums. Dying destitute
males are included in the organization’s scope of work.
In the footsteps of Mother Teresa whose work around the
world does not need introductions, and under the leadership of Brother, the
Good Samaritan Mission who had beginnings in a one room tenement of a slum has
grown steadily over the last 19 years. 5 Mission Centers in Maharashtra
house, care for, and formally educate over 100 young men and women, and a
little over 50 are cared for at other Missions in Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh.
Apart from the formal education being imparted at local
schools and colleges, 2 mission centers impart training in Information
Technology, and another trains in Design and Tailoring with an aim to arm these
young women and men to meet life on their own terms. These centers benefit not
only the mission’s young, but also several from the slums who are less
privileged.
A little over 50 destitute men once without hope also have
found help at 2 Mission Centers for Dying Destitute. Earlier, more than over
1100 such men who were rescued in the past and recovered were housed here.
On a 379 acre land at Anakarai
just 35kms from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, Bada Uncle (the young ones
affectionately address Brother Peter Paul Raj as Bada Uncle) plans to not just
house 2000 children and more, but to educate them at a state-of-the-art on site
School, Library, Information Technology Center, Auditorium, complete with
parks, playgrounds, and a secular place of worship. A Leprosy Center
is also in the offing.
Having cared for and served in
diverse places as in the slums, in transit camps where families who’s original
houses are under redevelopment etc., and on the streets, railway stations, bus
shelters etc., Brother Peter Paul Raj feels that not only the State and State
Policies but also the Society are largely cause for an alarming increase in
population of underprivileged and homeless people.
Being a catalyst of change as a
Non Governmental Organization, and playing a vital role in addressing several
wrongs to correct such drastic imbalances, the Samaritan has witnessed rapid
deterioration of the social order. Being of the opinion that illegal building
and construction activity coupled with corrupt administration, subsequent
demolitions are one of the greater causes of increase in the number of the
Homeless, the effects of which are seen widely and felt more closely at the Mission’s various
facilities.
He strongly feels that demolitions are a complete
devastation of National Wealth not forgetting the occupant who happens to be a
factor of production who contributes to generation of the same wealth. The
entire activity of providing shelter factually creates wealth directly or
indirectly. For instance, the development of infrastructure to facilitate
shelter may be described as creation of National Wealth.
Cumulatively from the land to the built shelter and all
other creation in the activity of living indicates creation of National Wealth.
So the contention: DEMOLITIONS ARE A NATIONAL LOSS. Lives of a nation are known
National Wealth. This nation’s home to more than a billion and Home’s where the
Heart is!
Brother Peter Paul Raj demands that the ‘PREVENTION IS
BETTER THAN CURE’ method must be applied to address the activities that create
the term ILLEGAL at all levels from the acquisition of land through to the
construction of shelter, and the consequent sale or purchase of housing. He
demands his question of ILLEGAL BUILDING OR ILLEGAL DEMOLITION be answered by
the State, the procedure to address such cases be made public, and its victims
be redressed in retrospective.
His CHARTER
OF DEMANDS
- The Local Self Governance Bodies or the Municipal Corporations address the issues of land acquisition, construction of shelters / structures, and sale and occupation of the same. That these Bodies further re-examine each procedure and address issues with regards to Non-Agricultural Land Certificate, Copy of 7/12 and 8/A, and make public the same. That these Bodies further re-examine each procedure and address issues with regards to Plan Passing as per FSI Plan, Plan Passing Certification, Plinth Checking Certificate as per Plan, Sill Level, Lintel Level, Slab Level, and Final Finishing as per Plan, Issue of Occupation Certificates, Provision of Essential Facilities such as water supply, drainage, electricity supply, etc., and all procedures involved in the activity of shelter provision, and make public the same. That these bodies check periodically and only then permit each phase of construction, and make public the same.
- The State address the issue ‘ILLEGAL BUILDING or ILLEGAL DEMOLITION’ individually, and the disputes that arise from the same. Further the State address this issue in terms of procedures of acquisition of land, procedures of construction of structures, sale and occupation procedures, and all other procedures that go into the activity of providing shelter, and make public the same.
- The Consumer Protection Rights Agencies both national and international become more active both locally and otherwise, and protect the buyer rather than remain a silent spectator when the seller continues to sell illegal goods and services / produce etc, to the buyer without informing the buyer about the same.
- The latent Human Rights Commission / Organizations become active in educating, disseminating information, addressing issues and redressing victims, protecting human rights and fulfilling duties and obligations to Human Beings satisfactorily, both nationally and internationally.
- That the United Nations Organizations commission a study to report on the subject ‘The ILL EFFECTS OF DEMOLITIONS on the DEVELOPING WORLD’ within a time frame, table the Report, and make public the same with a view to correct imbalances as soon as possible.
Therefore the announcement of a HUNGER STRIKE (UPOSHAN) on
January 1, 2014 at the AZAD MAIDAN in Mumbai to protest DEMOLITIONS in India,
particularly in Mumbai.
Before beseeching the State and States’ Governments,
Administration, both the Law Giver and the Executive, MCGM, Members of the
Human Rights Organizations, Consumer Protection Rights Agencies / Forum, and
all concerned departments including MHADA, MMRDA, and all to pay heed to his
call, he would like to exhort every citizen, and not only the grieved to be
present and show solidarity to the cause of INCREASING NATIONAL WEALTH by
opposing and PROHIBITING DEMOLITIONS thereby keeping at bay GREATER NATIONAL
LOSSES.
Citizens of the World different Nations particularly are
urged to extend support to this cause, and unite at the AZAD MAIDAN to show
that the oppressed are not alone, and that the Commoners the world over still
stand united for a Common Cause.
For more information contact L Fernandes on +91 98202 71361
or Email: events.goodsamaritanmission@gmail.com
