BENGALURU: After 66 migrant workers petitioned the Karnataka High Court on December 4 — a day after being evicted by BBMP from Thubarahalli settlements — the court will continue to hear their case on Monday after it provided a stay order on the day they had petitioned to maintain status quo in the matter.
On Sunday, citizens turned up in significant numbers at Bengali migrant workers’ sheds, on Vibgyor School Road in Thubarahalli, Whitefield, to clean the area as surrounding apartment dwellers had complained to the BBMP that the place is unhygienic because of dumping and burning of garbage by migrant workers living in the area. Migrant workers also held a march to protest against the eviction.
“BBMP personnel tried to destroy the houses of poor migrant workers on the allegations that they burnt low-value plastic in the vicinity. The citizens turned out in good numbers to clean the area and stand with the poor,” Vijay Seethappa, a volunteer with Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali said.
Around 15 undergraduate students from Social Work and Journalism streams of St Joseph’s College turned up after the message of the drive was posted on their class’ Facebook pages. Clifton Rozario, an advocate who helped the migrants file the writ petition said, “If garbage is the problem, then you target the garbage, not throw out the people like trash.”
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), BBMP, said, “Last year, there were Cholera deaths in similar settlements where construction workers lived in Sarjapur. I don’t want such a situation to repeat. There are criminal complaints against the land owners for the illegal burning of garbage". “I never gave eviction orders. It is the prerogative of the respective zonal joint commissioners,” he added.