Date:03/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/03/stories/2007050308190400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Jatha to create awareness among slum dwellers flagged off

Special Correspondent

FOR A CAUSE: Members of the Karnataka Slum Dwellers' Protection Joint Action Committee at the launch of the Statewide jatha in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: The Karnataka Slum Dwellers' Protection Joint Action Committee launched a State-wide jatha from Bangalore on Thursday. The campaign aims to create awareness among slum dwellers on their rights to land, basic amenities and livelihood. The 15-day programme will cover slums in 35 taluks in 18 districts.

Speaking at the launch of the jatha, Y.J. Rajendra of Jana Sahayog said eviction of slum dwellers, who are the real builders of cities, had become the policy of the government. Repeated pleas to ministries and officials to ensure a decent living for slum dwellers had fallen on deaf ears, he added.

The committee had presented three memorandums to the Chief Minister since the beginning of this year with several demands, including allocation of money in municipal budgets for slum development on the basis of population. But the Government had not bothered to act on any of them, Mr. Rajendra said. Programmes such as Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission helped real estate agents grab lands of slum dwellers in the name of public-private partnership, he charged.

Coordinator of the committee L. Isaac Arul Selva, said the basic rights of the poor were being trampled upon through privatisation at the behest of the World Bank and other international agencies.

He cited the Karnataka Urban Water Sector Improvement Programme as an instance of it, where the task of drinking water supply was being handed over to private contractors. Jobs for the poor in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and other government bodies, on the other hand, were being contractualised pushing them towards insecurity, he said.

K.L. Ashok of Komu Sauharda Vedike condemned the ruling coalition for keeping aside Rs. 200 crore in the budget for religious institutions, but only Rs. 20 crore for slum development.

Shivsundar, journalist and activist, said the policies of the Government towards slum dwellers in cities and rural poor raised the larger question of whether the country belonged to the real estate mafia.

The ongoing auctioning of acquired encroached lands to big real estate companies made this suspicion stronger, he added.