``We want a change in this. There are no simple solutions to such situations, unless the authorities render help. There has to be a balancing act'', he observed.

Having said that, the division bench of the CJ and Justice A P Shah took strong objection to the suppression of facts by the Railways about the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the slum dwellers. Having gone through the thick pile of minutes submitted by SPARC (Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres) of the various meetings held by the Railways and the government onidentifying land for rehabilitating the slumdwellers, Justice A P Shah put the pile towards advocate D Y Chandrachud who appears for the central government and said, ``The entire material has been suppressed from us. Who are you taking instructions from?''

SPARC, which sought a status as an intervenor in the case today, presented its submissions claiming that contrary to the stands of the Railways and the state government, there was enough land available to rehabilitate the slumdwellers living within the safety zone of 10 metres on the railway tracks. ``If we were to be given land today, we are willing to shift tomorrow'', said the counsel for SPARC, Mustafa Doctor.

The non-governmental organisation which has been working with the railway slumdwellers for several years, said Doctor, had been working with the railway slumdwellers for the past 13 years. It has been able to form a Railway Slumdwellers' Federation (RSDF) under the aegis of the National Slumdwellers' Federation (NSDF) and had formed 86proposed co-operative housing societies among the slum residents. ``Around Rs 1.4 crore have already been saved by these slumdwellers and even if we were to get land with the infrastructure of water and electricity, we could construct our own houses,'' said Doctor.

Doctor showed files of the railway land and claimed that pockets of land were available which could be used for the rehabilitation of the slums. To this, the counsel for Central Railways, A Y Sawant took objections saying that these land were encroached upon. Doctor countered this, saying this land were available and a committee under a retired judge of the High Court if set up could do a physical survey of what is available.

Justice Shah observed that while the harbour line was the worst affected, a start could be done with the slums on the Western Railways and the CentralRailway lines. Counsel for the petitioner, Subba Rao, however, reiterated that the railway officials need to be prosecuted for allowing the slumdwellers to encroach on therailway land.

``Unless some accountability is obtained from the railway officials, including the General Managers of the Railways, the public will come down heavily on them,'' he said. He added that the petitioner, Citizens For Just Society, has no objection to the rehabilitation of the slumdwellers.