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March organized in support of evicted migrant workers

Last Updated 09 December 2018, 19:45 IST

Hundreds of Bengalureans from Mahadevapura marched in solidarity on Sunday, in support of the migrant workers who were evicted from slums in the area.

Last week, the slum dwellers in Thubarahalli and Kundalahalli near Bellandur were forcefully evicted from their sheds at the behest of the local MLA, Arvind Limbavali. As the police stood guard, a small portion of the labour sheds at Munnekolala labour camp were razed. Thereafter, the homeless had to seek refuge in the neighbouring sheds, under the trees and out in the open.

Most of the migrant workers are from different parts of Karnataka, including Hassan, Bidar and parts of north Karnataka. Some are from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Citizens under the banner ‘Bengaluru for Thubarahalli and Kundalahalli’, took out the solidarity march.

“The slum dwellers are the people that build our apartments, metros, roads; they have in fact built Bengaluru. They are the underprivileged who have left their villages and come here to earn a living. There are plenty of corporate staff in Bengaluru, why are we not kicking them out?” asked Vijayakumar Seethappa, a member of the Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali.

“We are supporting the poor with humanity. We do not want to witness sectarian violence, and the city being divided,” Seethappa said. According to Seethappa, those who claim that illegal migrants live in our city’s slums have ‘vested interests’.

“We had challenged the BBMP’s demolitions, and recently the stay order was given to restore the houses. We will stand by them and support them,” said Umesh, another supporter.

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(Published 09 December 2018, 19:39 IST)

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