Residents of Kurla Christian Village have opposed the biometric survey of the area by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority.

The notice about the survey on March 10 was found pasted on the outskirts of the locality some days ago. However, residents of the centuries-old settlement do not want the area to be declared a slum because the categorisation will restrict redevelopment rights. 

The village has around 150 homes mostly occupied by East Indian Catholic families who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 16th and 17th centuries. The residents said that the village has a 500-year-old history connected to Mumbai's history as a Portuguese colony that was later transferred to English colonialists.

Vivian D'Souza, an advocate, who opposed the survey said the gaothans, or villages, have a distinct character and cannot be classified as slums. There are over 180 such settlements inside Mumbai and residents have been demanding demarcation of the localities to protect the boundaries from encroachment by slums.

"BMC cannot acquire gaothan land for slum development. The government has set a deadline of March 31 for a survey of the slums and the SRA must have mistakenly assumed that Kurla Christian village is a slum," said D'Souza.

The public notice from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's 'L' Ward office, says that the biometric survey unit of the SRA will survey the slum with the assistance of external survey consultants.

Gleason Barretto, founder trustee of  Mobai Gaothan Panchayat, an organisation representing East Indians, said that Old Kurla Gaothan should be recognised as a Goathan with immediate demarcation along with all 189 other gaothans in the city.

One of the reasons why residents of the gaothans do not want their localities as slums is because if they are classified as slum residents, they will be entitled to rehabilitation tenements of 300 square feet. "We live in substantially larger houses. Some of the gaothans have villas. If the gaothans are declared as slums we will lose our large houses and will be forced to accept SRA homes," said D'Souza.

The survey notice has been criticised by Member of Parliament, Varsha Gaikwad. On Friday, she stated on 'X': After Bandra's Chimbai, Now 400-Year-Old Kurla Gaothan Marked as a Slum – Fadnavis Govt Targets Mumbai's Bhumiputras Again! Bent on selling Mumbai piece-by-piece, the corrupt, builder-friendly BJP government has now tagged yet another historic Gaothan—Old Kurla Gaothan (Christian Village)—as a slum. This centuries-old settlement, home to thousands of Mumbai’s Bhumiputras, now faces an existential threat.

Gaikwad added that residents were shocked to receive BMC notices for a slum redevelopment survey. "This follows a failed attempt in Chimbai Gaothan, Bandra, last month, where alert citizens successfully foiled a similar scam," she added in her message.

Barretto, a resident of Kurla Christian village said that it pained him that an SRA notice had been issued for a survey of the village as a slum. "I take strong objection to this notice of injustice to the Bhumiputra East Indian Samaj of Mumbai. On behalf of the Old Kurla villagers, we demand the recall and cancellation of this notice with immediate effect. Old Kurla should be recognised as a goathan with immediate demarcation along with all 189 Gaothans," said Barretto.