E-Paper
Chandigarh admn to lend ear to residents of two colonies before demolition orders
The consensus about the same was arrived at before the Punjab and Haryana high court recently during the pleas filed by residents of two colonies in 2022. After the pleas from the residents of Janta Colony, Sector 25-D, and Sanjay Colony, Industrial Area Phase-1, the court had stayed demolition proceedings initiated by the administration in mid-2022.
The Chandigarh administration will conduct hearings with all the affected persons of two colonies, where it initiated demolition exercise in 2022, before resuming it again.
The consensus about the same was arrived at before the Punjab and Haryana high court recently during the pleas filed by residents of two colonies in 2022. After the pleas from the residents of Janta Colony, Sector 25-D, and Sanjay Colony, Industrial Area Phase-1, the court had stayed demolition proceedings initiated by the administration in mid-2022.
The UT administration had put up the notices in these colonies, asking residents to vacate the area before the demolition drive, while announcing the same. In the case of Janta Colony alone, 10 acres of government land was involved with around 2,500 shanties. It is considered the biggest slum area in the city, after the demolition of Colony Number 4 on May 1, 2022, Janta Colony is estimated to be home to more than 10,000 people. The colony stands on land, worth around ₹350 crore, which has been earmarked for a dispensary, a primary school, a community centre and a shopping area.
Colony stood on ₹2,000-cr govt land
The exercise was being carried out under a drive of making the city slum free, initiated after the successful demolition of Colony Number 4 at Industrial Area Phase-1, wherein 2,500 shanties were removed and more than 65-acre land worth ₹2,000 crore was recovered. Over the last 20 years, the administration has demolished Colony number 5, Mazdoor Colony, Kuldeep Colony, Pandit Colony, Nehru Colony, Ambedkar Colony, Kajheri Colony and Madrasi Colony. But several small and big pockets of slums areas still remain in Industrial Area, Manimajra and Sector 25.
In the high court in 2022, the residents had argued that the notices were in violation of the administration’s policy of November 6, 2006, which talks about rehabilitation of those being evicted. The inhabitants of the colony are labourers, hawkers, industrial workers, daily wagers, sweepers, domestic workers, porters, etc. They have been living in the colony continuously for the last 15- 25 years. The residents hold ration cards, voter cards, driving licences, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards, issued by competent authorities. Hence, they can’t be evicted without making provisions for their rehabilitation, it was submitted further referring to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which as per them says “in-situ” slum redevelopment is to be done using land as resource with private participation for providing houses to eligible slum dwellers, an important component of the “Housing for All” mission of the Government of India.
Residents’ rehabilitation pleas to be scrutinised
Now, the petitioners and the UT administration have arrived at an agreement and it has been decided that scrutiny of eligible residents would take place, who can be considered for rehabilitation.
As per the proceedings, residents would file applications for allotment of suitable flats/sites as per their eligibility. The administration, thereafter, would consider the individual cases and if they are found to be eligible and some sites /flats/plots under a particular scheme are available, the same would be allotted.
The court said that after the deadline for filing applications is over the administration will hear each case individually and the entire exercise would be completed within a period of eight weeks after deadline for receiving the applications is over. UT also undertook that, it would not initiate the demolition process while this exercise is underway.
