Charan evictees still await rehabilitation

Temporary hutments raised by the Charan khad slum evictees at Chetru. (Image Credit: Harshil Thakur)

By Harshil Thakur

Tears still roll up in Bhau Dass (65) eyes when he recollects the eviction drive at Charan Khad two years before. “We have lived there for more than 35 years since our ancestors settled at Charan”, he says. “It was a black day in my life”, he said.

It's been more than 2 years now, but no development project has yet been started on the site near Subzi Mandi in Charan Khad which the Municipal Corporation of Dharamshala (MCD) has cleared by demolishing hundreds of hutments on 17 June 2016. Evictees like Bhau Das are still waiting rehabilitation.

Life is very tough for Bhau Dass and other families at their temporary settlement at Chetru, a village 13 kilometers from Dharamshala, as they do not get jobs easily to earn a livelihood. Elderly people and women have to stay at home, making half of the people jobless while the young men of the community work for Municipal Council Dharamshala, mainly as waste collectors for a meager wage of Rupees 200 a day.

Charan Kahd evictees at their temporary shelters at Chetru, 13 kilometers away from Dharamshala
(Image Credit: Harshil Thakur)

At Chetru, they have set up small hutments in a private land. Owner of the land who is an influential person of the area collects rent for each hutment here. "He threatens us to burn our shelters if rent is not paid on time”, said Das. Arranging RS.700/slum a month is a daunting task for them.

The slum dwellers at Charan Khad were nomadic tribes from Maharashtra and Rajasthan who came to Dharamshala during the drought in Maharashtra in the 1970s. They were accepted by local people and with time became integral part of the local community. But the situation changed when they received a notice by MCD on 16 May 2016, ordering them to vacate the place within 10 days.

Local residents still share fond memories about them and are angry with the government to displace the poor migrants in the name of hollow development  promises. "Rajasthan wale matka banaate the, Maharashtra wale kachra uthaate the" (Migrants from Rajasthan were potters and Maharashtrians were garbage collectors), remembers the vegetable vendors at Charan Khad. Many in the neighborhood of the erstwhile slum in Charan Khad are of the view that government should not have allowed them to settle there earlier but after living at a place for 35 years government should have provided permanent shelter to them.

The decision was taken after a complaint to MCD by Irrigation and Public Health department accusing these migrants of damaging sewage pipe lines and for open defecation which, according to authorities, had increased chances of epidemic in the area.

After multiple review petitions against the eviction drive by Karan Kumar, a local resident, were rejected by the Court, eviction started by MCD on 17th June 2016 which ended on 21st. During the drive, 150 hutments were destroyed, forcing the slum dwellers including toddlers and pregnant women to spend several nights on streets until they moved to Chetru.

At Chetru, they live in 40 to 50 jhuggis cramped into a small area very close to the river bed. Evictees who are migrants from Rajasthan have moved to another area, setting up similar temporary shelters there, says Bhau Das.

Without proper waste management options, residents of these temporary shelters live in dangerously unhygienic conditions. Several of the kids here suffer from diarrhea and respiratory illness. Poor access to primary medical facilities has resulted in rampant malnutrition and lower vaccination rates among the children.

“There is no access to clean water, no sanitation and the area is subject to flooding in the monsoon”, says Brigid Whoriskey, member of Tong-Len, an NGO helping out the evictees. “The families have to travel long distances to beg or scavenge in the rubbish and there is evidence in some families of malnutrition”, she said.

Locals in Chetru are also of the view that government should provide them permanent shelters. However, many of them are also concerned about the littering by the slum dwellers. The land owner or the authorities have not provided any toilet facilities or electricity connections here.

Slum dwellers complained that they approached government officials and the MLAs several times for help, but with no result. “No government official or service reach us, our life has become hell", says Bhau Das in a low voice.