42 families are Evicted in Bhopal
Bhopal Municipal Corporation Evicted Murgi Paalan Kendra Basti of Sanjay Complex colony on 02/12/2020. This settlements was inhabited for nearly 20 years, and the people here were living here for 5-10 years. Most of families had labour and domestic workers.
But due to the Road to the housing complex, the bhopal Municipal Corporation Evicted this settlements without notification. 42 Families Evicted, out of this 38 families were resettled in Bhanpur R and R Colony. And 4 families left out during Rehabilitate.
भोपाल के 40 साल पुरानी आजाद नगर बस्ती को नगर निगम द्वारा बेदखली की सुचना दी गई।
मेट्रो लाइन के कारण 1971 में बसी हूई (मध्य प्रदेश) भोपाल के आजाद नगर बस्ती को दिनांक 23/10/2020 के दीन नगर निगम वालो दवारा बेदखल कर दीया जयेगा। पिछले 40 वर्ष से यह बस्ती बसी हुई हैं। और यहाँ पर जादा तर मजदूर रहते हैं । लेकिन रेलवे लाइन के काम के कारण कुछ महीनों पहले ही यहां के रहिवासियों को रेलवे एजेंसी द्वारा एक अधिसूचना दी गई है की जल्द से जल्द इस बस्ती को खाली कर दिया जाऐ। अगर बेदखली हो जाती हैं तो यहां पर 206 परिवार वालों पर बेदखली का प्रभाव पड़ जाऐगा। इस बेदखली के कारण यहां के लोगों के मकान ओर कामकाज की सबसे ज्यादा हानि हो सकती हैं।
बस्ती वालों का कहना है कि सरकार ने बस्ती के पुनर्निर्माण के लिए पास कि जमीन की जगह देने की बात कही।
लगभग सभी बस्ती वालो के पास निवासियों के सारे दस्तावेज भी पाए गए है। ओर उस दस्तावेज पर इसी बस्ती का पता हे, लेकिन इन में से कुछ एक परसेंट लोगों के दस्तावेज पर कहीं ओर का पता है।
Bhopal Municipal Corporation has decided to evict 120 families due to encroachment resident.
Irani Dera Slum Basti located at Junction Gate No. 6 of Bhopal will be evicted by the Municipal Corporation without any notification.
This settlement is inhabited for about 60-70 years. But according to the municipal corporation, this settlement is living on government land without any legal form. There are 120 families here, most of whom are shopkeepers and workers.
The government is deciding to evict the settlement and build a mall on that land, so 120 families will be evicted from there. And the government has not promised any rehabilitation.
The Case of R Block-Digha Railway Line Slum
More than 500 houses and 150 khatals (Sheds for cattles) were demolished in a series of evictions at R Block-Digha Railway Line housing settlement. A stretch of 7 KMS railway line from R Block to Digha consisting of 71.25 acres of land was transferred by East Central Railway to the Government of Bihar for INR 221 crore for construction of four-lane road project by removing the then existing settlement on the land. From September 11, 2018 onwards, 18 houses were demolished and people were rendered homeless with no alternative rehabilitation provided to them. This area began to be fenced by the authorities from September 14th 2018.
As per the Bihar State Slum Policy 2011, settlement consisting of 20 households in closely congested and poorly built structure (not with concrete roof) are considered ‘slum’ and in case if it is on untenable land (Railway Land) it is to be resettled through relocation by the State Government but no process has begun for the settlements demolished during this demolition drive.
Several efforts were made by civil society by discussing the issue with district administration including District Magistrate, Road Construction Department and even Hon’ble Governor of the State and demanding rehabilitation of families. A Public Interest Litigation (CWJC 16596 of 2018; Tanuja Kumari Vs The State of Bihar) was filed in the Patna High Court which has not been taken by the Chief Justice for hearingtill now. Along with this, an Impleadment Application (7645 of 2018) was filed in the case CWJC 11414 of 2017, demanding rehabilitation of affected families in the project. The order dated 3rd July 2018 in the above mentioned case by the bench of Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice S. Kumar stated that “let the District Magistrate, Patna start demarcation of the land in question and remove encroachments in accordance with law. If any person would be aggrieve and then he would have to approach this Court by filing a petition and any case arising out of that proceeding filed before this Court would be listed along with the present case.” Even the Court did not mentioned about the rehabilitation of the affected families. Following the court order, the administration arbitrarily began demolishing the houses. In the affidavit submitted in the court, the district administration claimed that 514 huts and 186 Khatals have been removed but there is no statement that the linear tract has been made encroachment free. Since there was no mentioning regarding the Pakka constructions which are standing as encroachment on the tract and also the existing temple etc, the affidavit was said to be meaningless by the hon’ble court in the order dated 26th September 2018.
Additionally, the land belonging to Railways was transferred to the Road Constriction Department of Government of Bihar for a four lane road construction project. In this case as per the section 4 of the ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013’ it has become mandatory to conduct a Social Impact Assessment of the land before commencing any project. It should be equally applicable to public land where more than 500 families are situated and impacts on their life, habitat, and livelihood can not be neglected.
The Case of Louis Welfare Progressive Association for the Blind, Delhi
20 Visually Impaired students were left homeless after their hostel was demolished by DDA in the acute winter of December 2017.
The hostel building of Louis Welfare Progressive Association for the Blind (LWPAB) was demolished by Delhi Development Authority on the morning of 15th December 2017 citing unauthorised construction at Virender Nagar in Delhi. The hostel managed by the NGO was home to 20 visually impaired students of different educational institutes of Delhi. The hostel was running for around the last two decades in the same building. The inmates were left helpless with debris and so many things to be removed from that. On December 22nd 2017, a leading english news daily Indian Express did the story on the incident of which the High Court of Delhi took the suo moto cognizance and appointed amicus curiae to present the status report. In the response to it, DDA demanded to shift the inmates of Hostel to a nearby DDA community centre till the proper rehabilitation is arranged for them. An independent law student of University of Delhi did the primary documentation and helped inmates to get the issue to the court fearing any kind of eminent eviction from the place. After the story in newspaper several media houses reached to them to cover the story but no other assistance be it legal or social was availed to them. Along with Prashant, Anti Eviction Support Cell intervened in the matter. All the inmates demanded that they should not be evicted from the place as they have a social ecology built here with the community and NGO is mostly dependent on the community. Also there was a big problem with any plan of rehabilitation of inmates as they all were studying different courses from different institutes. Most of them are doing their graduation from School of Open Learning, University of Delhi and as per Hostel rules of university they don’t provide hostel to the students of SOL. Similarly in the case of those inmates who were preparing for competitive exams, in which hostel will they be shifted to? Some crucial questions were refused to be answered by Court and DDA counsel in the matter.
As the matter was subjudiced with Court taking suo moto cognizance, inmates were having tough time in the cold weather. The Delhi Disaster management provided them a temporary shelter and food. Still the fear of eviction persisted. It was then that the matter was taken to High Court of Delhi where a writ petition was filed demanding safety from eminent eviction, in situ rehabilitation and providing basic services. The court said they have full sympathy with the inmates and their vulnerabilities but they need to shift to the location as said by DDA and only after that anything will be heard. The court in all three hearings in a span of a month said the same with inmates moving to the DDA staff club near Tihar Jail on January 24th 2018.
The usual pattern that is seen in the case of most of the evictions in Delhi was also observed in the case. The occupants were not given any prior notice or written intimation. As alleged they were also not given enough of time to collect their belongings. DDA couldn’t give any reason in the court for demolishing the building, only that the land belongs to DDA and they were clearing the encroachment. DDA kept claiming that it was a case of unauthorised construction whereas it later changed to unauthorised occupation of the government building. The hostel building was earlier used as Basti vikas Kendra by DDA which they stopped in the year 2001. It was after that the building was handed over by the Local Councillor to the NGO.
In the matter media played a crucial role. With a news story in a leading english daily helped the Court taking suo moto, it also went against the hostel inmates who were left with no other option than to shift as Court had already ordered the same. Red FM helped the inmates to spread their matter with them as RJ Ronak did continuous shows with them. The matter was also raised in the winter session of the Parliament where Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development was asked to answer on the status in upper house. He said that “some land mafias are using these blind people to capture the land and few students were provided rehabilitation but they didn’t accept that.”
The very case raised few crucial questions for all the actors involved in it: be it the land owning agency DDA, the Judiciary, the Civil societies, the Ministry and above all we as a society. For how long do we need to see disability as vulnerability to cope. The bench of High Court said in it order on December 29th 2017 that they have all sympathy with them but they need to move to a safer place in this weather. The word ‘sympathy’ needs to be noted here. DDA had no other project for the piece of land but still they demolished the building for clearing encroachment, they began claiming them blind mafias and our minister made the same statement in the Parliament. He called 20 students who come from different states to study in Delhi as land mafias. And we as civil society were still confused with how should be go ahead with them, hoping for creating an inclusive environment, an integrated one or a special setup like the one demolished by DDA to not promote the Ghettoisation of Person with Disability. As of now, the students were shifted to DDA staff club and Delhi Social Welfare Department is taking care of rehabilitation.
The Case of Pul Mithai
A settlement of the Railway land where most of the population are small scale street vendors was demolished at 6.00 am in the morning of December.
Mithai Pul is a community hidden underneath the railway flyover near Sadar Bazaar. It lies in the heart of the Old Delhi’s Sadar bazaar area. Amid the congested streets of Puraani Dilli, the community was settled up in 1984 over a primarily located Indian Railways land. The community constitutes of around 300 family living here.
Majority of them are either daily wage laborers or vendors/hawkers by profession. Most of them came to the city from the outskirts of Bihar in search of better living conditions and job opportunities. The community has nearly 150 school going children. An Anganwadi is also present in the premises of the community. The Pradhan of the community is the assigned leader. He is fighting for the rights of the people of this community since long and has been a guiding light for them.
A number of civil society organizations have been working with them to help them understand their rights and lead lives with dignity.
The Ministry of Railways by constituting bodies like the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) prevents the land of the Railways from being encroached and prevent the exploitation of these land areas. Recently, the Ministry of Railways is trying to generate revenue by leasing the land to private developers for huge profits. This seems to be ironical. This is being done by evicting the slum dwellers from their lands without following any guidelines or principles of the provisions that talk about the proper rehabilitation of the evicted community. The matter of concern for the civil society organizations is the misuse of the land for the benefit of the ones in power.
The railway currently does not have an existing Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy but it does have a long history of Forced Evictions and Demolition Drive. The responsibility of rehabilitation of the residents of the community in case of evictions is duly denied by the Railways. None of the government housing policy is applicable to them. The Indian Railways treat housing as a subject of State’s consideration, according to this the responsibility of rehabilitating the evicted slum dwellers lies with the respective states, under whose jurisdiction the slum is located.
According to Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1956, eviction of slums without notice and without an alternative arrangement for housing is illegal.
The community members who are often looked upon as encroachers are under a constant threat of being evicted from the place. Mithai Pul has been subjected to demolitions a number of times. The community had to face the bulldozers in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2017 recently. This eviction has not only temporarily affected their living conditions but it has left them helpless as their livelihood has been snatched away from them. The vendors and the hawkers are not able to put up their shops, thus they stand jobless.
They are denied their rights in the name of the documents being made after the cut-off date. According to the residents, there have been 3 documentation campaigns by the Government in the area, where the earlier documents of the people were collected from them, and new ones were issued, having a later date of issue, thus making their stay and claim on the land considerably weaker. The documents with dates after the cut off dates make them more vulnerable as they cannot claim for rehabilitation, if at all it is being provided.
The community members and the market in the area are completely interdependent on each other. A resettlement programme could only be fruitful if this relationship is taken care of. In situ development turns out to be the best mechanism for such development where the improvement of the slums conditions within the vicinity is done. But it should not turn out to be the replica of Kathputli colony, where in the name of this inclusive plan, a large junk of people were excluded from the process.
The Case Study of Gulshan Chowk
More than 150 families were left homeless when DDA demolished houses at Gulshan Chowk in West Delhi. People fought for their rights and managed to save their houses.
Gulshan Chowk, Baljeet Nagar community is a settlement of immigrants from nearby states like Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, who came to the city in search of better employment and better living conditions. As a part of encroachment clearance drive, Delhi Development Authority demolished more than 150 houses on July 5th 2017. It was the second demolition drive on 5th July (an earlier demolition was carried on May 25th 2017). On the day of demolition, DDA officials along with huge police force came to the community at Gulshan Chowk and told the dwellers to leave their homes immediately. They were given just sufficient time to move their important belongings out, and according to locals, the bulldozers started tearing down the settlement within 20 minutes of the notice. As a result many of them lost their household belongings including stoves, utensils and gas cylinders.
This demolition affected more than 500 families in and around Gulshan Chowk. The houses were semi-pucca. The locals said that most of them had documents and could validate their stay in this slum for over ten years and produced ration cards to prove the same. As alleged by the community members, they were never given a notice before the eviction drive began.
No due procedures related to evictions were followed during this illegal and brutal act of DDA. After the demolition, which was done during the rainy season of July which are days of high humidity in Delhi, people were left homeless. Women and children were the most affected by this as they had to live in open. Children lost their books, bags and school uniforms. People of basti gathered to protest outside the DDA office, Vikas Sadan in Delhi on July 11th 2017. More than 500 people from basti sat on day long protest till DDA officers agreed to postpone the demolition. Along with protest they also filed a writ petition in the High Court of Delhi where they got stay on demolition and basic services were prevailed by Delhi Government along with a temporary tent.
After a month, in August they were again informed that they are going to face demolitions again. They protested against it and went on indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on 16th and 17th August 2017. They only agreed to end the fast after local MLA assured them of no further demolitions. In the last hearing happened in November, they obtained an order of stay till July 7th 2018.
These evictions are a gross violation of human rights and are a contributing factor to homelessness. The Delhi Development Authority did not follow any guidelines given by the High Court as per the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement. These guidelines included carrying out a survey and providing with adequate and timely notice so that the dignity of their basics human rights is maintained. This way they would not be rendered homeless. There is also a provision of alternate resettlement and adequate housing under the United Nations Basics Principles and Guidelines on Development based Evictions and Displacement.
The city which has not been able to give them a share of its resources is now also taking away the minimal they have. The reason or an alternative plan which is most often the cause of eviction in different colonies is still unknown. The alternate plan is still not laid and the colony is already destroyed for something like the ‘beautification of the city’.
Role of Anti Eviction Support Cell:
AESC as a part of city based network helped in the documentation for the case and mobilisation of people for various public meetings. As stated by the various people of the community, they are currently doing well. CSOs helped them to avail basic facilities like food and water. They helped them to mobilize and realize that strength lies in Unity. Networks and Collectives like Basti Bachao Sangarsh Samiti and others, in collaboration advocated the rights of the community members and has helped them with this temporary relief and are continuously putting in efforts to help them get out of this menace permanently.