Bhubaneswar: Around 35,000 odd families of the City’s Salia Sahi slum cluster are yet to get permanent land rights as per the state government’s Jaga Mission, which aims to transform the existing slums into liveable habitats by providing tenure security to households living in the urban areas. Though the scheme has been implemented in the majority of slums across the City, Salia Sahi remains an exception.
Acknowledging the fact, BMC Deputy Commissioner Ramesh Jena said, “The case of Salia Sahi is an exception for the implementation of the Jaga scheme as it comes under the purview of the Forest Rights Act.” Invoking the Forest Right Act 2006, he said the slum dwellers, mainly belonging to Scheduled Tribes, are accorded special status for protection of the land. The Act empowers the forest dwellers to access and use the forest resources in the manner that they were traditionally accustomed, to protect, conserve, and manage forests and protect forest dwellers from unlawful evictions, he said. Terming it as “double standard”, Salia Sahi Local Committee Secretary Jayadev Naik alleged that the civic body, to serve its self-interest, can unlawfully evict houses for road construction.
However, when it comes to granting permanent land rights under the scheme, they choose to evade responsibility, he added. Deliberating further, he stated that last year BMC undertook a road construction project that proposed to cut across through the slum demolishing around 365 houses. The administration however gave up to the stiff opposition of locals, claiming that such interference violates our rights under the Forest Rights Act, he added. Official sources informed that, BMC prepared a list of those 365 families and promised them to rehabilitate in govt. quarters under state-announced schemes. However, in exchange it demanded lakh of rupees from the slum dwellers, it added. It may be noted that the project concerned with linking Utkal Hospital road with Ekamra Kanan Botanical Garden, which also undertook the contentious 200 meter road that passed through Salia Sahi.
Notably, the matter was petitioned before the High Court by the slum committee, which then took an exception and came down heavily on the administration. It noted that rehabilitation must be the prior concern of the parties before eviction of the houses. Echoing the concerns, Salia Sahi’s Bablu Murmu said Adivasis are the sole owners of Salia Sahi’s land mass. Despite realising this, the government’s failure to accord us permanent land rights exposes their concerns for us, he added.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN,OP
