‘Uprooted’ SC families seek Prez nod for ending lives

JHAJJAR: Members of 11 Dalit families, which have been living in the open at Sant Ravi Dass Colony in Sector 9-A in Bahadurgarh after their homes were razed by HUDA last Monday last, have sought permission from the President to end their lives if the state government does not provide them with land and compensation for their rehabilitation.

Household articles belonging to SC families lie scattered in HUDA’s Sector 9-A in Jhajjar’s Bahadurgarh town. Tribune Photo

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, April 24

Members of 11 Dalit families, which have been living in the open at Sant Ravi Dass Colony in Sector 9-A in Bahadurgarh after their homes were razed by HUDA last Monday last, have sought permission from the President to end their lives if the state government does not provide them with land and compensation for their rehabilitation.

The families have submitted a memorandum to the Bahadurgarh SDM in this regard. “We have been spending sleepless night in the open for the past one week. People of nearby areas are serving us food as we have no money to arrange even our bread and butter,” said Maan Singh, one of the victims.

Prakash, another victim, said they had been residing here for over three decades but HUDA demolished their houses a week ago. A petition over the matter was pending before the High Court for hearing on May 18, he added.

HUDA Estate Officer Vijay Rathi, however, said the families had occupied the land unauthorisedly. The land was now a part of the metro yard and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) staff quarters’ campus. The encroachment was vacated after following a legal procedure when the encroachers failed to respond to the notices served upon them in this regard.

Rathi said the SC families had been offered flats under the Ashiana Scheme but no one so far had accepted the offer. The affected families, however, claimed they had no money to pay instalments for the flats.