Bangalore Mahannagara Palke demolished homes of the poor in Ejipura, Bangalore ,located near Asian Games Village.
Heartrending scenes were witnessed as the excavators went to work. Every time their gigantic metal claws moved, they smashed homes, roofs, water tanks. Anything that came in the way.
In the aftermath, the now homeless Ejipura residents ventured out, salvaging what was left of their belongings, trying to pull out a mangled tin roof here, looking for anything else they could pick up there.
For the second day in a row, residents resisted, without much success, their ejection from Ejipura. They are not the original owners of the sheds but tenants who have moved here, most of them working, or finding work, nearby.
On Saturday, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) resumed its demolition of the shanties at the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) Quarters with heavy police protection. This grim task was preceded by the arrest of around 25 residents and rights group activists. They included Kaveri Indira, a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science, and Gee Ameena Suleiman, a filmmaker. Both had joined the protest against the forced eviction and demolition, and tension prevailed when the police led them away.
The BBMP has entered into a joint development agreement with the Maverick Holding and Investment Pvt. Ltd. to construct multi-level residential complexes for the original 1,512 EWS allottees in around seven acres of the 15 acres and commercially exploit the remaining prime property by constructing a mall. Each acre here is worth Rs.10 crore to Rs.12 crore.
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Rosemary (60) one of the thousands rendered homeless by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s recent demolition drive at Ejipura, died on Tuesday evening after spending nearly three days out in the open. Before the bulldozers arrived, Rosemary lived stayed in her 150 sq ft tin hut with her son Sasi Kumar (46), daughter Sobha (38), her husband Govindraj (40) and their six children aged between 17 and 5.
Speaking to The Hindu early on Wednesday morning Ms. Sobha said that her mother’s death was a direct consequence of the demolition. “She had barely eaten anything in the last few days. All she did was cry. The cold [out in the open] was unbearable. She was trembling and was constantly complaining about the cold,” she said.’ ( The Hindu)
Note the last para in conjunction with the fact that the BBMP had gone ahead because “‘The BBMP has entered into a joint development agreement with the Maverick Holding and Investment Pvt. Ltd. to construct multi-level residential complexes for the original 1,512 EWS allottees in around seven acres of the 15 acres and commercially exploit the remaining prime property by constructing a mall. Each acre here is worth Rs.10 crore to Rs.12 crore”
Also the fact the illegally constructed shops doing Crores of Turn over in Ranganathan street,T.Nagar,Chennai went scot-free after an initial show of token demolition and it was “business as usual”
‘It is six weeks now since the civic body, armed with the Madras high court order, demolished illegal projections and concrete structures on Ranganathan Street, T Nagar. However, traders in the street have not learnt any lesson, it appears. Most of them have encroached several feet on public space again, displaying their wares on makeshift wooden shelves and benches on the roadside.
According to revenue records, the original width of the road is 30.6 ft. “The high court’s directive to the local body is about demolition of all encroachments being completed by May 13. However, this has not happened” said K R Ramasamy ( Traffic’ Ramasamy), whose petition in the high court resulted in the demolition order”
Laws, it seems, are different for the privileged!
(The court in a magnanimous gesture allowed them to stay for a year!)
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