Coming a week after a letter written by the Central Railway to the state government was made public, today's incident showed how fraught with risk the eviction of slum dwellers is. In his letter, the railway's general manager had warned that services between Wadala and Mahim would be suspended if the problems posed by encroachments was not addressed.

News of the demolition, which began near Sewree railway station this morning spread like wildfire along the Harbour Line. Nearly 500 hutment-dwellers swarmed on to the tracks between Sewree and Wadala, dumping wooden sleepers, poles and metal objects before squatting on the tracks even as incoming trains screeched to a halt.

It was a hostilesecond day welcome for the Government Railway Police (GRP) commissionerate, set up only on Saturday.

Trains were disrupted first between 11.55 am and 1.35 pm and then again from 2.50 to 3.25 pm. The CR had to also cancel 24 pairs of trains due to the agitation.

``We won't allow trains to pass, if you break our houses we will break railway equipment,'' threatened a combative slum-dweller pointing towards a stalled local, even as police watched from a distance. ``If they take the law into their own hands, then the police will have to respond equally,'' warned Deputy Commissioner of Police, GRP, T S Bhal.

However, the strong reaction forced railway officials to wind up their drive and beat a hasty retreat, leaving over 200 policemen in riot gear to defuse the situation. As a precaution, trains passing through the area were given a police escort.

To put it simply, the gullible railway officials walked into a trap after failing to anticipate the level of resistance. Hutment-dwellers along the Habour Linehad been anticipating a major demolition offensive by the railways. And though today's wasn't the big push they had anticipated -- the CR called it a routine drive to clear the safety zone of soft encroachments -- the hutment-dwellers reacted strongly. And the Harbour Line bore the brunt of their fury.

On Sunday, an organisation called the Maharashtra Central Welfare Society distributed pamphlets warning slum-dwellers of a possible eviction drive by the railways which would begin the next day. A joint meeting of residents in the hutments between Sewri and Wadala organised by this society, called for united action to prevent any demolition.

``We knew it was going to happen and so asked the residents to prepare themselves,'' says Mohammed Hanif, general secretary of the society. ``Jagah do, jhopda lo,'' (Give us alternative land and then take our huts) he added.

``The moment we heard that they had begun demolitions, we used all available construction material to block the tracks,'' says atriumphant vegetable seller Ramesh Balan Nair.