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Please acquire land, cry residents

Last Updated 08 April 2011, 15:18 IST
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Out of about 500 residents living in 105 houses in Shanthigudde, located between Kalavar (where MSEZ II phase is coming up) and Konchar (where MSEZ houses under R & R package are coming up), a few have quit and moved away while a few others have given their houses on rent and remaining 75 families continue to suffer everyday.

Perhaps there are very few houses which have not developed cracks. Quarter to half-inch dust on every house-roof and tree branches speak volumes about the misery the residents undergo everyday, courtesy the MSEZ II phase works surrounding Shanthigudde. On eastern side, a MSEZ housing colony is coming up; On western and southern side, land is being levelled for industries; and on northern side, there is a road connecting all the regions.

Every blast, every move by earth movers and every development work done in the region has cascading effect on the residents of Shanthigudde.

“We are fed up of living in this region. We were very happy when we received notices from Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in 2007 stating that our land will be acquired,” said Zohra, a resident of Shanthigudde, and added: “Our pleas to acquire land have fallen on deaf ears all these years.”

The walls of almost all houses have developed cracks when the land developers used explosives to level the hills and hillocks for MSEZ in the adjacent areas, said Tukaram, a daily wage labourer in the region.

Only well collapsed

The only well in Shanthigudde which used to cater to the needs of residents, collapsed one fine day, as a result of a blast, about three years ago. On the same day, the house belonging to Zubaida too was reduced to rubbles. She and her daughter luckily survived as she was not at home at the time of collapse.

“Ministers, MP, MLA and several others including the Panchayat officials have visited the spot and we have submitted umpteen number of memorandums to almost every person and department concerned, but in vain,” rues Nebisa, another resident.

After the collapse of the well, the residents used to manage with the help of two borewells in the vicinity. “Both the borewells have gone almost dry since the last 5 days, after the MSEZ dug up a borewell to supply water to rehabilitation colony,” alleged Chandu, an aged housewife who is worried over lack of water supply to the vicinity.

Mandir, mosque to go

Residents said the area has 1 anganwadi, 1 mosque and 1 bhajana mandir. However, the district administration has ordered demolition of mandir as well as mosque as they have been constructed on government land.

If the mandir (29 years old) and mosque (20 years old) are going to be demolished, then why not our houses, question residents.

Interestingly, the region also has a 50,000 litre capacity water tank and pump constructed about 8 years ago, but not used even once, reportedly due to fear that it might collapse as it has been constructed at the edge of hillock, a classic example of official apathy.

GP/MSEZ speak

Bajpe Gram Panchayat Vice President Vedavathi said that the problems of Shanthigudde have been brought to the notice of the district administration as well as District-in-Charge Minister Krishna Palemar, but nothing has been done.

She also said that a separate memorandum signed by 100 residents has been submitted to deputy commissioner through Sugrama (Federation of elected women members of Gram Panchayat in Karnataka) and they are waiting for a favourable reply from the DC.

Meanwhile, when contacted, MSEZ DGM (R&R) (HR) S T Karkera said that Shanthigudde was left out because there were more than 75 houses at one place. On the other hand, the land being developed on eastern side is for housing colony (R&R package) which would be a living area once the project is completed.

Nowhere to go

Most of the residents don’t have enough money to repair their damaged houses. The authorities concerned or the people’s representatives have failed to eliminate the fear pschosis created by MSEZ works from the minds of 72-year-old Koosappa, 85-year-old Susheela or 70-year-old Chandu and many other aged as well as young residents, who have been residing in the area for the last 35 to 40-odd years.

It is a different issue whether the residents would be able to see better days once the works get over.

But the fact that the residents of Shanthigudde are living in a hell-like situation is a tragedy which reminds me these famous lines by German Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

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(Published 08 April 2011, 15:18 IST)

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