Skip to main content

One lakh displaced; Haryana govt 'ignores' SC order to rehabilitate Khori Gaon people

By Ishita Chatterjee, Neelesh Kumar, Manju Menon, Vimal Bhai*

In Khori Gaon, hundreds of families have been displaced and thousands of houses are being brutally demolished each day. After the completion of the demolition drive, the destitute working-class residents are being forced to live without any shelter. They are also being immediately and forcibly removed from the area and being threatened with police action.
Despite the order of the Supreme Court on August 3, the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad has not provided any e-mail to the thousands of displaced residents to lodge complaints. No back office has been set up at Radha Swami Satsang Centre either.
Most of those uprooted from Khori Gaon in the recent demolition exercise were working class citizens. These people had built their small houses with their hard-earned money or by taking loans or by selling the land and property in their ancestral villages. The residents have witnessed very stressful times starting from July 14, 2021. They have suffered physical injuries and mental torture.
They have also been treated inhumanly and disrespectfully. After the lockdown enforced unemployment they were subjected to the brutal demolition exercise which has taken their homes away. Most residents are lying on the road or beside the remains of their demolished houses, some are living on rent while few are living with their relatives.
The Supreme Court in its order dated August 3 on page 4 had ordered that the Haryana government should finalize the rehabilitation policy framed by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad for the desolate residents of Khori Gaon till the next date of hearing. Now since it is the Haryana government itself looking after the entire policy, it is necessary that the historical injustice is recognized and corrected.
Rekha, Pinki, Pushpa and other residents have repeatedly sent letters to the Haryana government, the litigants have appealed to the government that the government should simplify the process of rehabilitation and it should be made more inclusive. Their consent should also be taken.
After demolition of more than 10,000 houses, Supreme Court should also keep similar strict orders regarding rehabilitation
Mainly, the scope of eligibility should be increased whereby any voter ID card registered on any address, any documents of residence of Khori Gaon like family identity card, birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate, children's school admission papers, property papers, any of the land purchase documents, ration card, banking account, etc. should be considered as the basis of rehabilitation.
Everyone's house was demolished. Therefore, until there is proper rehabilitation for the people, there should be proper arrangements for food and shelter.
Due to the immediate eviction of thousands of families from Khori village, the rents of houses in the surrounding areas have increased rapidly. Therefore, rental allowance of houses should be made at least Rs 5,000 per family till proper rehabilitation is done.
It has also been repeatedly told to the government that the flats of Dabua Colony of Faridabad being given for rehabilitation are in very bad condition. There is no security of any kind. No electricity and water too. Most of the flats do not even have any windows or doors.
The Supreme Court, in its order dated June 7, 2021, had ordered the removal of possession from the forest land. The court had left the rehabilitation to the state government. After demolition of more than 10,000 houses and displacing more than lakh people in Khori Gaon, the Supreme Court should also keep similar strict orders regarding rehabilitation.
The Haryana government should issue an email to register complaints and set up a backup office on Radha Swami Satsang urgently. It should prepare a rehabilitation policy which takes into consideration the historical injustices faced by the residents of Khori Gaon and caters to the needs of the suffering citizens.
---
On behalf of Concerned Citizens for Khori Gaon and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”

Delhi demolitions for G-20 summit: Whither sabka saath, sabka vikas?, asks NAPM

By Our Representative  Well-known civil rights network, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), even as expressing solidarity with “thousands of traumatized residents of Tughlakabad and some other bastis in New Delhi whose homes have been demolished and whose lives have been ravaged both prior to as well as in the lead-up to the G-20 Summit”, has said this is in utter disregard to “their minimum well-being and gross violation of their rights.”

'Misleading' Lancet estimates on zero food intake in infants, young children of India

By Srinivas Goli, Shalem Balla, Harchand Ram*  India is one of the world's hotspots for undernourished children, both in terms of prevalence and absolute numbers. Successive rounds of National Family Health Surveys ( NFHS ) have revealed that the progress observed since the early 1990s is far from what is expected when compared to the country's economic growth.

Greater reasons for Asia to unite than Europe, 'overcome' costly hostilities, political egos

By Dr S Faizi*  Europe, once a theatre of internecine wars, now has a robust European Union shaping the common destiny of its people. Although Europe is only a subcontinent of Asia as Arnold Toynbee had observed and as is visible to anyone looking at a map, we still not have a common Asian platform for economic and political cooperation.  It is high time Asia had its well mandated regional organisation to secure a common Asian future, ending the costly hostilities and political egos. We can have the Asian Union even when the bilateral hostilities, unique to Asia, refuse to go away completely.