Hyderabad: It was a lull after the storm that changed the lives of many for better or for the worse on Sunday, as many families left their homes to find a new one in the 2BHK houses built for them by the state government. The evictees are people who had to part with their houses lying on the Musi river bed in Moosa Nagar and Shankar Nagar.
Tahera Bibi was among the two families which were yet to relocate, as she had just come back from Bhubaneshwar after learning about the eviction. Her husband, who had suffered a heart stroke and had recovered recently, fell ill after learning about the developments back home. Leaving her daughter with him at the hospital in Bhubaneshwar, Tahera had to rush to Hyderabad by borrowing money and booking a flight for Rs 8,000 to save whatever they had.
She was crying inconsolably speaking with Siasat.com, feeling helpless in her own land, as she too had undergone four operations, the most recently an operation to get a tumour removed.
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Though it was feared that after the eviction demolitions would take place on Sunday, for some reason that plan was halted for the time being. At the 2bhk housing complex at Pilligudiselu in Chanchalguda, the evictees were still trying to come to terms with the reality, as they were cleaning their houses and arranging their luggage and furniture.
Among them was Mohd Yousuf, a father of three school-going daughters, who had just arrived from Shankar Nagar. When asked how he found the new home, he said that it was definitely not like what used to be his home in 50 square foot area.
Though the 2bhk apartment was of the same area, he believes that he could had built another floor on his old house had he been allowed to stay there, just as a security for his daughters when they grow up to get married.
He was allotted flat number 511 in the allotment letter. Some family members of the original Pilligudiselu slum dwellers who were already living in the 2BHK complex, and who were waiting for the rest of their family members to get the flats allotted, protested at the 2bhk housing complex on September 28 after the evictees from Moosa Nagar and Shankar Nagar started arriving to occupy their flats.
The police resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse the protesters, and ensured that all the evictees occupied their flats. Yousuf was asked to first occupy whichever flat was vacant, and he was able to settle down in flat number 522. Even on Sunday, there was heavy police presence in the apartment complex, to prevent any untoward incident from affecting the resettlement of the evictees.
Chand Bi, a mother of three sons, got one flat allotted to her, and another for her elder son. The two younger sons, along with their wives had no option but to temporarily live with her. Shama, the wife of her second son, has five daughters and a son.
“We have been earning a livelihood by assembly artificial decorative flowers back home and make somewhere between Rs 200 and 300 per day. We are not sure if we can continue that here. There is no scope for taking a portion for rent outside, as the rents range between Rs 8,000 and Rs 9,000 per month, which we couldn’t afford. We have no option but to stay together,” Shama told Siasat.com.
While things seemed to settle down, there was growing unrest back in Moosa Nagar, as a group of social activists held a meeting inside a school, where the people from various Basthis affected by Musi evictions had assembled to share their problems.
“Twenty seven years have passed since the governments have been talking about the Musi rejuvenation, and every time successive government have been targeting the poor whenever such a project was being brought forward,” recalled Brother Varghese, who leads the campaign for housing and tenurial rights (CHATRI), an organisation which has been working with these slum dwellers for decades.
There were those who had to be relocated more than two decades ago from Moosa Nagar, when the then State government had built the lower Chaderghat Bridge. Those who had to alienate their land back then, were not only given alternative land in the same Basthi, but were also helped financially to build a new house in the alternative location for in-situ resettlement.
Many of those who are living in the buffer-zone are still restless, as they know the prospects of being evicted sooner or later, even though the officials have made it clear that those living in the buffer-zone will not be touched. Many were angry at the latest developments in their lives, and resolved that they didn’t want the 2bhk houses, and were not going to relocate to other places anymore.
Social activists Sajaya, Meera Sanghamitra, Professor Surepalli Sujatha, Professor Padmaja Shaw, Venkat Reddy, Syed Bilal and others spoke at the meeting to instill confidence in the basthi dwellers.
