Unsafe jhuggis pose a threat to 15,000 migrants

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan,May 25

With little safety measures in jhuggis that have mushroomed in various areas of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt, the lives of its more than 15,000 dwellers are at risk.

The manner in which a 9-year-old boy residing in a jhuggi at Katha village was burnt alive in a fire incident on Thursday was an example of their lack of safety. Though the cause of fire was yet to be confirmed, the presence of LPG cylinders in these jhuggis added to the intensity of the blaze where 60 dwellings were gutted and loss worth Rs30 lakh were incurred.

The government had disbursed relief of Rs2,000 to the 60 slum dwellers and Rs15,000 to the kin of the deceased after Thursday’s fire incident. Lakhs are being spent every year by the state government on disbursing such relief to the migrants, though no policy has been framed to ensure their safety.

Several moves have been initiated by the local administration to rid the area of jhuggis, which not only pose a health threat, but also give an ugly appearance to the area. Even the move to construct low-cost housing structures to provide hygienic dwelling to these migrants has failed to fetch encouraging results and such structures constructed in Baddi and Nalagarh are still not occupied.

Private land owners conveniently allow the migrant labourers to construct jhuggis on their vacant land for lure of earning Rs1,000 per dwelling. Since there was no restriction on this activity in the area, 101 such jhuggi clusters have come up in 33 villages falling in the revenue circles of Baddi, Bhud, Sandholi, Manpura, Beli, Lodhi Majra, Bhatolikalan, Barotiwala, Mandhala, Thana and Dhella.

Nalagarh SDM Prashant Deshta said they had been undertaking campaigns to rid the government land of jhuggis from time to time and efforts were being made to rehabilitate the slum dwellers in low-cost housing units constructed at Baddi and Nalagarh which were lying unoccupied. He said efforts would be made to deter the private land owners from giving land on rent for jhuggis so that such incidents were not repeated.

101 clusters in 33 villages

Private land owners conveniently allow migrant labourers to construct jhuggis on their vacant land for lure of earning Rs 1,000 per dwelling. Since there was no restriction on this activity in the area, 101 such jhuggi clusters have come up in 33 villages falling in the revenue circles of Baddi, Bhud, Sandholi, Manpura, Beli, Lodhi Majra, Bhatolikalan, Barotiwala, Mandhala, Thana and Dhella.