Cuttack slum dwellers hold march, demand rehab

With the administration intensifying its drive in demolishing slums in Cuttack, thousands of slum dwellers, including women of the millennium city, on Monday organised a demonstration in front of the Assembly here to press their demands. The slum dwellers coming from 150 slums of Cuttack under the banner of Basti Basidanka Milita Mancha took out a padayatra on Sunday to reach Bhubaneswar on Monday crossing nearly 25 km. They slammed the Government for its apathy towards them.

“Our demands are genuine. We demand proper rehabilitation before eviction, issue of identity cards, fast completion of buildings for slum dwellers at Tanal Sahi and Kandarpur and inclusion of all slum dwellers under Indira Awas Yojana,” said Mancha convenor Khageswar Sethi. Hitting out at the Government for its poor response to their issues, Sethi warned that the slum dwellers will intensify their agitation in future if the Government does not stop its demolition drive.

The agitators holding placards and raising their demands participated in the padayatra from Manimath in Cuttack to the Mahatma Gandhi Marg near the Master Canteen Square in the city after making night halt at Phulnakhara. They also submitted memorandums to the Governor and the Chief Minister seeking their early interventions.