Around 5,000 slum dwellers under the banner of the Bastibasinda Ekata Manch, Cuttack held a demonstration in front of the State Assembly here on Tuesday under the leadership of Manch president SK Abdulla demanding pucca houses to all urban landless people and slum dwellers in the State.
They later submitted a memorandum to the Housing and Urban Development Minister also demanding an increase of Budget allocation for houses for the slum dwellers, taking steps for sending the funds to the district Collectors and Urban Local Bodies’ heads at the earliest and starting construction works soon.
Abdulla said that about 10 per cent of the population of the State migrate to the cities like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Brahmapur for their livelihoods and play a vital role in the development of the cities. But instead of helping them, the Government is trying cheat them, he added.
Among others, Hemendra Samal, Saffque Mohammad, Arun Jena, Arbind Mallick, Bikram Singh, Basanti Biswal and Nayana Nayak led the demonstration.