The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in its report, said that the dwellers of Ejipura colony for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), who were evicted in January, were not actually encroachers. The report ‘Governance by Denial’ was released here on Tuesday.
Addressing reporters, PUCL member Ramdas Rao said there is evidence to prove that the allegations of local MLA N A Haris saying that the residents were encroachers do not hold water. In support of their findings, they released a copy of the BBMP resolution passed on June 28, 2005, in which the civic body had assured that it will provide housing to the tenants of original allottees.
The BBMP also issued special ID cards to these tenants which termed them legitimate claimants of houses in the same colony to be given to them as compensation.
The resolution explains that the decision taken was to “evict the residents in view of the dilapidated condition of the buildings as a precautionary measure and to put the residential complex, allot the same to 1,512 original allottees by constructing residential complex in the remaining portion and allot the houses by identifying the present residents.”
The PUCL has also sought a judicial probe into the deal between BBMP and Maverick Holdings and Investments Ltd.
“Residents will soon file a review petition in the High Court challenging the PPP agreement between the Palike and Maverick,” said a PUCL member.
The PUCL members also pointed out that former minister R Ashok had changed his stance from 2004 when he was the MLA of Uttarahalli Assembly Constituency, which had Ejipura under it before delimitation took place.
The PUCL has a copy of a letter Ashok wrote on February 3, 2004, to the government. In the letter, he said that residents had suffered due to the poor quality of construction.
He also called the residents (many who aren’t original allottees) bona fide occupants of the land as they have ration cards and voters ID cards. “Residents are willing to pay a government-fixed price for the low cost tenements in the colony,” he said in the letter, while requesting the government to expedite their resettlement.
Arul Selva, PUCL, said Ashok, in his capacity as the Home Minister during the eviction of the EWS quarters, did nothing to stop the brutal manner in which the police evicted the residents.