Medha Patkar questions eviction of slum dwellers, scrapping of GO 111

Social activist calls the eviction inhuman

Renowned social activist and advisor to the National Alliance of People’s Movements Medha Patkar expressed solidarity with the evicted residents of the Teegalaguda slum in Moosarambagh, and called for in-situ development of residential quarters for them with all facilities.

Calling the eviction inhuman, Ms. Patkar, who interacted with the victims on Friday, sought to appeal to the foundational principles on which the movement for a separate State of Telangana was based eight years ago.

“I don’t think KCR, whose government issued GO 58 and built housing for the poor, is a man like Modi,” she said, noting that the “PM’s government does not hold any dialogue”.

Explaining the incident, S. Jeevan Kumar from the Human Rights Forum said that about 135 families were packed off along with all their belongings to Munnanur in Abdullapurmet, where they have been accommodated in the JNNURM housing complex lying vacant for a decade. A total of 53 families have been left behind in Afzal Nagar Community Hall, as they did not get allotment in the complex.

“The families had been staying here for the last 32 years, and repeatedly applied for housing. Lists were prepared several times, but they have not been given housing units. On March 4, without any prior information or notice, Revenue and Municipal authorities arrived with the police, and started calling out names. They packed the residents in 12 buses and four trucks, and took them away,” Mr. Jeevan Kumar said, and alleged that the allotment was done in a hurried manner, and there was no rationality in the process.

For the people left behind, municipal authorities supplied bare essentials for 10 days, after which pressure started building upon them to vacate the community hall. HRF and CHATRI, who prepared the list of the 53 families, demanded housing with dignity for them.

Ms. Patkar also questioned the scrapping of GO 111, and said that the catchment areas of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar should not be tampered with.

“In fact, we have been arguing for pristine catchment areas for all the lakes. Scrapping of the GO amounts to scrapping of lakes. It is a commercial outlook to lose lakes and compromise environment for real estate benefits,” she said.

She also spoke against scrapping of labour laws and denounced the four new labour codes promulgated by the Central government, besides touching upon various other issues, including migrant labourers, and NREGS.