CUTTACK: More than 300 slum dwellers under the banner of Basti Basindanka Milita Mancha on Tuesday staged a demonstration in front of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) office demanding rehabilitation of slum dwellers before initiating steps for eviction drive.
Though the State Government had constituted Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act-2017, an Act to provide for assigning land rights to identified slum dwellers for redevelopment, rehabilitation and up-gradation of slums, the same is yet to be implemented in the city, the Manch alleged. It is a matter of regret that the State Government is engaged in evicting slum dwellers without rehabilitating them, said Khageswar Sethi, convener of Basti Basindanka Milita Mancha.
Later, the Mancha also submitted a memorandum to CMC Commissioner demanding fulfilment of their five-point charter of demands including rehabilitation before initiating eviction, recognition to old slums in the city by providing land rights, identification of slum dwellers residing for decades in the city, implementation of Odisha Land Rights’ to Slum Dwellers Act-2017 and rehabilitation of the evicted slum dwellers by providing houses on priority.