Friday, October 7, 2016

Thousands of Slum Dwellers demonstrated for Land Patta in Bhubaneswar

Thousands of Slum Dwellers demonstrated   and submitted Memorandum demanding Land Patta in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack



On  5.10.16, thousands of Slum Dwellers hailed from 30 Slums    of Bhubaneswar, capital city of Odisha and Bhubaneswar organised Rally and Demonstration  under banner of Odisha Basti Sangharsh Samiti  at Lower PMG demanding land patta .  A five member delegation led by Kailash Pradhan, Basti Leader of Shantipali Basti submitted 2400 applications collected from different Bastis to Chief Minister   demanding early supply of Land Patta to Slum Dwellers.  Besides that they also submitted memorandum appealing to Chief Minister to frame Land Policy for Slum-dwellers, reservation of land for poor  as per Odisha Govt. Land Settlement Rules, 1983  and   recovery  of land from the people  who have  encroached  or illegally  acquired  or taken multiple plot by filling false affidavit.

The Rally  was addressed by Pradip Pradhan, eminent RTI Activist, Sri Prafulla Samantary, Convener of Lokashakti Abhijan,  Sri Pratap Sahu,  Convener of Basti Sangharsh Samiti, Sri Sachikant Pradhan and many Slum leaders of  different Bastis like Kailash Pradhan, Sushma Singh, Gourahari Nayak, Rajani Das, Muna Das  etc.
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In memorandum submitted to Chief Minister,  the Slum Dwellers  have  highlighted  their plight and suffering    for years together  due to  sewerage problem, bad sanitation, lack of drinking water,  electricity, road connectivity etc.  Though they have been staying in slums since 30 to 40 years, the Govt. has not considered allotting land in their name. Rather, they have been forcibly displaced    by the police and administration several times in order to give land to corporate house or business people.  Due to Govt.’s apathy, they do not have permanent address.  Now, the Govt. will destroy 24 Bastis for Smart City and plan to  settle   slum dwellers in   small apartment houses  constructed under  Rajiv Awas Yojana renamed  as Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana. This arrangement is not acceptable to Slum Dwellers, as   a family   cannot be accommodated in that   so small house. 

In support of their demand, they   have also   stated that   the State Govt.  has allotted  land  to Ministers, MLAs, Officers, Private Educational Institutions like KIIT , NGOs, Temples, Mathas at subsidised rate  or free of cost. Citing few examples,  they  have pointed out  that  Achyut Samant led KIIT  has been allotted 150 acres of Govt. land  at highly subsidised price out of it 85 acres of land acquired  by  Achyut Samant is illegal.  Similarly Loyala School has been allotted 12 acres of land free of cost.  DAV School, Sai International School and Private Medical colleges have been allotted land at subsidised price. The State Govt. has sold 58  acres of  valuable land to   DLF company  in Chandaka area at throw away price.  

If all  the  rice people, Ministers,  MLAs, Officers    have been allotted land, then why slum dwellers  will not be allotted minimum “40 x 30” sq. Ft. Land in Bhubaneswar.  The State Govt. should  follow the same legal procedure   to allot land to slum dwellers.

The Rally led  by Slum leaders  and Social Activists  started  from Lower PMG and reached  at lower PMG covering  Raj Mahal.  


 Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

   

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