Evicted residents stage a sit-in on Sunday.
Credit: DH photo
Bengaluru: More than two weeks after their homes were demolished, families in Bengaluru’s Fakeer Colony and Waseem Layout are still living in makeshift tents amid the rubble, saying they have no other option.
While they await rehabilitation, residents expressed their frustration against political leaders for neglecting them during their toughest times.
Mushtaq Hamid, one of the affected residents, is worried. A father of three daughters, he holds a voter ID and Aadhaar but is unsure how long will the government take to offer him an alternative house.
“I have been living in the colony for the last 28 years. I speak Kannada fluently. Yes, there are houses that came up in the last 2-3 years but all we are asking for is a small place to live,” he said.
Like Hamid, a large number of families continue to camp in Fakeer Colony and neighbouring Waseem Layout — both government-owned properties.
While the authorities consider them encroachers, residents insist they have nowhere else to go and say they will remain on the land until they are rehabilitated.
On Sunday, the Kogilu Layout Slum Residents’ Struggle Committee — comprising more than 10 progressive organisations — met to chart the next course of action as the state government continues to delay rehabilitation for evicted families.
Committee member Manohar Elavarthy said the affected families would continue their protest peacefully.
Mubina Khathir, an Urdu teacher, has been teaching children in the settlement for several years with the support of a non-profit organisation. Initially living in a rented house nearby, she moved to the colony and built a shed after her husband left her. She now fears being pushed onto the streets if rehabilitation is further delayed.
Chikka Rangamma, one of the affected residents, expressed frustration over the absence of local MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, who is also the revenue minister.
“I am sure he will come and beat me for taking his name, but the government has done nothing to protect us,” she said.
Haseena, a mother of five, said that not only were her children born in a government-run hospital in Yelahanka, but she herself was born in Bengaluru.
“My father came from Andhra Pradesh many years ago. I studied at the school next to the colony. We have all the documents, but no one in the government wants to know how we are living after our houses were demolished. My ten-month-old son keeps falling sick,” she said.
Activist Nandini Kuvempu, who is visually impaired, urged the government to distribute houses without bowing to political pressure.
“The Opposition is spreading lies that residents have lived here for only one or two years. That is not true. They have been here for more than 20 years. No one here is from Bangladesh,” she said.