Editorial
Eviction of slum dwellers
Authorities must focus on rehabilitation
In the last eight months, as many as 60,000 people have been evicted from the slums they used to inhabit. Even as they remain largely un-rehabilitated, comes news that the authorities plan to go for more such action against other slums as a measure toward reclaiming illegally occupied land. A pertinent question arises here: why must eviction without the necessary follow up rehabilitation take place?
A committee entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitating those evicted was formed on 19 February this year. Incredible though it may sound, the committee, despite having been formed by the caretaker government, has largely been ignored. That is evident from the staggering number of those who have not been rehabilitated up to now. One would have thought the committee would be consulted on the matter, but obviously that has not been done. Among the people affected by these harsh measures have been young women employed at various garments units, rickshaw pullers and day labourers. What makes matters hard to accept is that despite specific directives from the higher courts requiring the rehabilitation of those to be evicted have not been complied with.
Such an attitude on the part of the authorities can only lead to some unintended consequences. On the one hand, it can send out the bad signal that judicial rulings can be flouted with impunity. Once such an impression grows, it is the concept of rule of law that takes a mauling. On the other hand, the failure of the authorities to rehabilitate people made homeless through the removal of the slums will likely spur many of their dwellers into taking up crime as a vocation. One hardly needs to point out how such a condition will add to the social problems we are already going through. In the circumstances, we ask the authorities to rethink the slum eviction policy. If the goal is merely to uproot slums and send their inhabitants packing without at the same time being serious about giving them new premises to stay in, everything becomes rather pointless and patently callous.
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