Slums residents being forcibly resettled in far-flung areas: report

New Delhi, Feb 13 (UNI) As the Delhi Government endeavours to transform Delhi into a "world class city" in the run up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, lakhs of residents of slums and unauthorised colonies are being forcibly evicted from their original habitats and resettled in far flung areas with inadequate sources of income or facilities for housing and shelter, a recent report says.

A fact finding report on the processes of eviction and resettlement in Delhi reveals how the authorities in Delhi are depriving the urban poor and the underprivileged of their existing basic necessities like housing, services and employment and creating larger problems for them at the new locations.

Titled 'The Processes of Eviction and Resettlement in Delhi', the report, prepared by the Hazards Centre, alleges that slums and unauthorised colonies have increased as a consequence of the Government's failure in providing adequate and affordable shelter.

''Forced eviction and resettlement of common citizens of Delhi violates both national and International norms of Human rights,'' the report said.

''While the original slums were located near places of work of their inhabitants, these new resettleemnt colonies are so far away that working people have to spend major portion of their income and time in commuting,'' anthropologist and associate professor of the institute of Economic growth at Delhi University Amita Baviskar told mediapersons here.

Amita, who was present at the press conference along with other members of the fact finding team, including social activist Harsh Mander, JNU professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy and lawyer Vrinda Grover, said,'' the resettled people are troubled by insecure work, lack of facilities and poor shelter. In fact, the report has found that the process of resettlement has forced the slum dwellers into a lower standard of living.'' Since most of those resettled had been located in far-flung areas with no viable transport facilities, most of them were now unemployed.

''The loss of livelihood and its deleterous impact on the health and well being of families was extremely distressful for them,''the report says.

MORE UNI AR PK BD1630