Chaos rules city roads as slum dwellers displaced

Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 5

Utter chaos prevailed in the city today after the displacement of the slum dwellers, as over 100 poor families observed on an indefinite dharna, whose temporary hutments were razed on the orders of the senior administration officials amidst chilling weather.

With nowhere to go, the family members comprising new-born babies, elderly and women were forced to spent their night in open amidst inclement weather.

The slum-dwellers failed to get the area which was demarcated by the district administration on the Goniana Road. The poor family members were allegedly attacked by some ‘influential’ area residents last night and were driven out.

“We were forced to leave as some people, residing in Adarsh Nagar on the Goniana Road, attacked us after which we ran away with whatever we could lay our hands upon. We even failed to pick up all our belongings and many of our packed baggage are still lying in the open place at the Goniana Road,” said Prahlad, one of the leaders of jhuggi owners.

He said his three children were separated in the melee and two of the kids were found near the canal in wee hours at around 4 am. “One of the girls, 7-year-old Sapna is still missing and another woman—Bimla, on family way— received serious injuries,” Prahlad said.

Cursing the officials of the district administration and local leaders, the slum dwellers took to an indefinite dharna in the middle of Namdev Chowk light points by laying the injured woman on a cot in the middle of chowk. The road, which proves instrumental in to and fro of the commuters while exiting and entering the city remain closed for over five hours.

The poor family members raised slogans against the Punjab government and held the Deputy Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner responsible for razing their hutments. While the hutment owners blocked the road, the government officials were busy in razing the hutments using bulldozers on the 100-Foot road near New Shakti Nagar.

Chaos ruled the roost as the traffic of main road was diverted through the Mela Ram road which was full of dust and mounds of mud in view of the razing of the hutments nearby.

The poor family members who had been putting up in temporary hutments for the past over a decade shifted their belongings to Goniana Road but were shown the door last night.

“Now, we have nowhere to go as our hutments are razed, one of our woman—on family way—is seriously hurt and a child is missing,” said Sonu, one of the slum dwellers.

The area residents of New Shakti Nagar had been demanding removal of the encroachments for the last long time in view of the nuisance created by the slum area around their locality.

The hutment owners used to release water and attend nature’s calls around the New Shakti Nagar, where some people reside. The slum dwellers alleged that initially the corporation officials decided to delay the action against them in view of the biting cold as the poor people, living with their children, women and elderly will be bereft of shelter. “But pressure tactics built up by the residents of New Shakti Nagar had forced the authorities to initiate immediate action and our hutments were razed in phased manner in past three days,” Parhlad said.

Before offering the land on the Goniana Road the poor people were given a piece of land below the Railway Over Bridge near the ITI. But here, too, the nearby residents protested against the camping of hutment owners and were driven out from the area.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Punjab Minister Chiranji Lal Garg reached to support the slum dwellers along with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Kiranjit Gehri on humanitarian grounds.

Senior police officers, prominent local leaders and others held the top government officials responsible for the chaos and razing the hutments of poor family members in view of inclement weather. “This was no time to raze the hutments. If they were residing for the last over a decade then the same could have been delayed for a couple of few weeks in view of the ensuing municipal elections and the chilling weather,” said one of the prominent senior citizen standing in a group of senior policemen on the spot.

Bathinda MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla expressing ignorance over the dharna, which is quite close from his residence, said that he will talk to Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg and Municipal Commissioner Dalwinderjit to clear the road. The dharna was lifted at night around 8 pm with assurance by the authorities to provide land to the protesters by 10 am tomorrow. The families were seen sitting in the open skies at footpath on the Goniana Road in a pathetic condition amidst cold with woollens.