The settlers who were removed by an anti-encroachment drive conducted few years back in Islam Nagar has once again encroached the place. Annoyed at the Government’s apathy and broken promises the homeless people decided to resettle at the same place.
Nurjahan Khatoon explaining her ordeal said, “Our days are passing under acute financial crisis. Neither have we had clean water to drink nor proper food to fill our stomach. It seems that Government only makes promises on papers with no relevance on ground.” Couple of years ago on April 6 the district administration deployed bulldozers early morning to demolish the shanties of Islam Nagar. As many as 200 shacks were removed in the drive. Despite Supreme Court’s guideline of rehabilitating the displaced within 45 days after the drive, the state government has failed miserably to carry out the instruction.
“We have been consistently raising the voice for our rights but to no avail. As many as five people died out of chilling cold but still the government is sitting on his thrown with close eyes,” said Shakeel Ansari annoyingly. Interestingly, the counselor of Ward- 16 Nazima Raza claims to raise the issue in every board meeting conducted by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC). Under the centre’s Basic Service for the Urban Poor (USBP) Scheme the civic body has to construct a large number of houses for the slum people.
“Under the first phase of the BSUP scheme RMC has to develop the slum areas of Islam Nagar and Aligarh. I have been consistently raising the issue but has never received a satisfactory answer from the other end,” said Raza. She added that according to law if a land remains vacant for more than ten years RMC can acquire the land and commence the construction work despite drawing the attention of the concerned officials in this direction no concrete action has been taken so far.
RMC CEO Manoj Kumar said, “The issue of Islam Nagar is in our mind and will extend all possible efforts in developing the slum areas. Under Rajiv Gandhi Aawas Yojna as a pilot project as many as five slum areas are getting developed once the work gets complete we will face towards these areas too.”