Bengaluru: Fifty-year-old Shahini lost her tea stall, which was her only source of income to feed her family. When the government forcefully evicted more than 1,200 families in Ejipura in January 2013, Shahini was desperate to find a shelter, let alone set up a new business. “I had nowhere to go. My home, business and the little assets that I had were all destroyed. My business, which earned me good income, too was razed within minutes in front of my eyes,” she recalls.
Though she has picked herself up and set up a new business, it’s not the same any more. “There are garbage piles round-the-clock in front of what we call our homes and hotels. Every time it rains, sewage flows into our makeshift tents. We breathe more dust than good air. Who would prefer to come to our stalls,” she asks.
The eviction affected the lives of working women and children, who were due to write their final exams. While many children stopped going to schools, most could not adapt themselves to the sudden change of living on footpaths. “Rain or shine, we have to live in these tents. The summer months were extremely harsh, while it has started raining now. It is almost three years now, but no one from the government or the BBMP have come to our help. When the CM visited the construction site, he did not ask what problems we faced,” rued Usha, a homemaker.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the project that will take 18 months will begin soon and 1,500 odd families will be handed over their homes. But Mr Uday Garudachar, proprietor of Maverick Hoardings Pvt Ltd – which has taken up the project, said that the project will take 18 to 24 months.
“The project was delayed as necessary sanction plans were not approved and the original allottees had moved court. The case was settled only about eight months ago and we were waiting for them to move the Supreme Court, but they did not. The BBMP administrator has assured us that necessary sanction will be given soon. We are waiting for an approval letter from the Fire department and that will be obtained in three days,” he said.
Mr Garudachar said that 1,512 houses will be constructed at a cost of Rs 750 crore. What this confusion and chaos means is that the slum-dwellers have to continue to live on footpaths for at least another two years.
