Preet Nagar, Dhobiana Basti residents spend nights in open

Sameer Singh

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 29

It is 11.30 am and Gomti Devi (name changed), along with two other women, is cooking chapattis on the tawa (griddle) near the protest venue at Dhobiana Basti here on Saturday.

These women are preparing food for scores of residents from Preet Nagar and Dhobiana basti areas who were rendered homeless after a team of officials from the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) conducted a demolition drive and razed around 35 structures constructed on PUDA land earlier this week.

A visibly anxious Roop Singh, a rickshaw puller who is among many who were rendered homeless does not know what lays in future for him. His son, who works at an eating joint as a waiter in the city, was utterly shocked to see the razed house on his return from work late evening on Tuesday.

Roop Singh said, “I have been living in the Preet Nagar area for the past 25 years and they came all of a sudden and ruined both my house and life in a matter of minutes in front of my eyes. I could do nothing but see my house turn into a heap of rubble.”

Karan Kumar, another resident who works as a labourer, said, “The world came crashing for me and my family after our house was demolished. As there was no prior intimation by the authorities, we could not make temporary arrangements. Now we have been spending nights under a pitched tent as in protest against the authorities. Our household luggage and other utility items have been lying in the open and getting drenched. Last night, we were drenched in rain while sleeping at the dharna site. With no roof over our heads, we do not know where we should go.”

Even small children were seen studying prior to their exams while sitting on house articles placed by the roadside.

Rajinder Singh, another homeless person, said, “If these houses were built illegally, why we were made to pay property tax. I have been paying property tax for the past seven years. There are big plush houses built barely 20 metres from the site where a demolition drive was conducted, but the authorities concerned did not touch them. It is the poor people who were rendered homeless by demolishing their houses for their own vested interests of influential people.”

Meanwhile, the authorities also got the iron fencing done at the demolition site on Friday as a result of which utility items of residents got trapped inside. When the latter objected to the same, police personnel registered a case against them for causing obstruction in discharge of duty.

Gurtej Kaur said, “The drive was in fact an ambush against poor people. Without any prior notice or any other intimation, officials came with a large force along with them and turned our world upside down. I am deeply worried about the well being of my children. If these houses were built illegally, the authorities concerned should have taken action earlier.”

She added, “If they want to demolish our houses, built decades ago, then they must have come up with an alternate solution to the same and provided us land somewhere else where we could have made arrangements to live. We have been living in penury throughout our lives and then these officials come and take away whatever little we had been subsisting with hitherto.”

Iqbal Singh, husband of Bhado Kaur, said, “My wife was three months’ pregnant and when the demolition drive was on, she, I and other family members tried to stop them from razing our house. In the process, she was pushed leading to her deteriorating condition. She was admitted to the Civil Hospital where she had a miscarriage. The demolition drive has caused irreparable wounds on my soul. Not only my house was removed but my unborn child could not see the world.”

BDA Chief Administrator Bikramjit Singh Shergill could not be contacted despite numerous attempts.