After having spent 10 years on the premises of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), members of the Apaar NGO found their organisation without a roof on the morning of January 3.

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Being asked by the PIMS authorities to vacate their rooms and office, members allege damage to their property and some items of the NGO also going missing.

Founded on March 25, 2014, Apaar (Altering Perceptions of Autism and Assisting in Rehabilitation) is a National Trust-registered NGO which was situated in the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, (PIMS), campus, Jalandhar, since July 15, 2015. Running from five rooms in the PIMS, Apaar works with adults for autism and other intellectual disabilities and works on their social and vocational rehabilitation.

The NGO's founder member Dr Navneet Bhullar said, "In mid-November 2024, the PIMS asked us to vacate as they needed our space for faculty accommodation. We asked for time till December to shift with the help of the district administration. We told the PIMS administration on December 30 that we planned to vacate it by week-end. They insisted us to vacate a large space so that they may begin construction, which we did."

Apart from Navneet, Apaar has a special educator, two vocational assistants, a van driver and an office assistant.

Bhullar added, "On the morning of January 3, the Apaar staff reached the PIMS to see that their set-up was damaged. All items in the locked rooms and office (furniture, cash, computers, almirahs, tables, books, vital medical records chairs, handicrafts) were dumped into e-waste room downstairs and several furniture pieces lay on the ground."

Bhullar said, “This forced eviction by the PIMS administration is unacceptable in a civilised society. It has brought mental anguish to its beneficiaries marginalised by society, who saw the overnight destruction of their home since nine years,” said Bhullar.

CEO, PIMS, Dr Kanwaljit Singh, said, "The NGO had set up office at PIMS free of cost for the past 9-10 years. We requested them to move out in November since as per the National Medical Council's requirements, we are redoing some parts of the PIMS and creating newer spaces. The rooms of the NGO will be part of the nursing hostel. After much delay, with their shift awaiting until December 15, they again did not move out, seeking two more weeks. Since we needed the space, we waited till January and then their items were shifted to a room downstrairs. No damage was done to any property."

While Bhullar shared videos of the NGO's things scattered on a ground, Dr Singh said, "We do not know who scattered these."

He added that there was no space currently available at the PIMS. The NGO has moved all its property from the PIMS. Bhullar said alternative space was being arranged for the NGO.