The lives of residents who once called the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quarters in Ejipura their home, have been in a limbo ever since the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) bulldozers levelled their tin-shed houses six years ago. And despite promises, they have yet to be allotted flats.
On January 18, 2013, more than 1,500 families, including 60-year-old Kanthamma, were forcibly evicted. “Others have managed to go to a rented house. We have no money for this. I can’t work any more, and living on the footpath is my only option. If they bring down these tents too, we don't know where to live,” says Kanthamma, who lives with her son on the pavements.
Ten families hang around on the footpath, despite the threat of another eviction looming large. “We set up our tents elsewhere before we are asked to leave. Shifting around has become a part of our lives now,” says Mary Fathima, who has lived in the Ejipura slum for over two decades.
Evicted families occupy flats
On the fringe of Sulikunte village near Sarjapur, 16 km away from Ejipura, a neat row of five-storey apartments huddle together. Surrounded by plantations, farms and empty plots, most of the 900 flats are now occupied by families evicted from Ejipura in 2013. “We are yet to allot them flats. Those occupying the apartment are encroachers. We have written to Karnataka Slum Development Board to evict them,” said BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad.
Issac Arul Selva, an activist focussing on urban poor and who petitioned against the eviction unsuccessfully in the High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court, said a few months ago BBMP tried to evict the families living in tents in Ejipura even before allotting them flats in Sulikunte.
“The families had nowhere to go. So they went and occupied the yet to be completed flats in Sulikunte. All the families now living in those flats have identity cards the civic body issued when their homes were razed in 2013. The apartment was built for them but not yet allotted. Where should those families go? BBMP cannot call them encroachers,” he said.
“The initial promise was to construct apartments in two years. It is not even close to being done even now,” says Mr. Selva. “Even when the apartments are completed, there is little hope the process will be fair. The agreement (between BBMP and Maverick Holdings) only says that the civic body will select the beneficiaries. History has shown that the person willing to pay the most to officials will be allotted,” he says.
The living conditions of families now living in the Sulikunte apartment leave much to be desired. “My family shifted here a year ago. We were promised liveable quarters. But, there is no electricity or water till date. Each family has to pay ₹30 a day for fuel in a generator we have hired, and ₹400 just for water,” says Ramanna (58), a resident. However, a generator is limited, and the power produced is rationed: each house gets six hours.
“We try to do all our activities in this time,” says a mother of a two-year-old child. As others talk about snakes crawling in the area, she adds: “In the evening and night, I feel scared to step out of the house. Inside, we battle mosquitoes.” The apartment has no water supply as well.
