Phase-2 of Chandola lake demolitions: Confusion and despondence; evictees stood in long queues to collect forms for EWS houses, none has submitted them

The document-keeper of her family, like most women in Chandola, Rajput says she had documented evidence of residence around the lake. These documents, meanwhile, having gotten wet in the recent rain, were left to dry in the one-room roofless hut behind her as she sat on a rickety khatla (cot) with her son, also a casual labourer. Clutching a bag full of other documents covered in a plastic bag, she says the family cannot afford to pay Rs 3 lakh for an EWS house that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has offered to those who are to be evicted from in and around the city’s largest grouping of three lakes, which has been encroached for several generations, with multiple residents attesting to the fact that their ancestors farmed the lake bed with wheat before it was filled with water less than a decade ago.

Even as the Ahmedabad city police and the civic body geared up to begin the second and final round of demolitions of encroachments in and around the Chandola lake in the south-western outskirts of the city on Tuesday, a week after announcing an alternative housing scheme for evictees, massive confusion and despondence remained on Monday among evictees who were packing their meagre belongings in the last 24 hours before the bulldozers move in.

“My son went to get the form for allotted housing but he didn’t fill it. Why pay a Rs 7,500 deposit when we are not even sure if we will get a house?” said 75-year-old Babuben Moti Desai while making chappatis under the scorching summer sun as the roof of her home had already been torn down by the family itself, in response to orders by the civic body. She was talking about the deposit amount to be paid during the submission of the alternate housing form to the AMC.

Residents, however, are highly sceptical about the alternative housing scheme which received in-principle approval of the Standing Committee of the AMC on May 8

The septuagenarian’s neighbours — sisters-in-law Reena and Parul Aud — who live on the slips of the lake right next to the water, said they had collected the forms after standing in long queues for hours, while their husbands had gone to their labour jobs. However, they have not filled and submitted those yet as they too believed that there was to be a draw and not all would get a house in rehabilitation.

With their electricity connections snapped and the meters taken away on April 30, residents have been suffering in the heat. They claimed they had not been asked to vacate the area and some had presumed they had been spared after the first phase of demolitions came to a halt on May 1, after 50-odd illegal scrap shops located on the main road were just demolished. A wall now stands where these kuchha shops, dealing with used furniture, once stood.

On Monday, even as the residents of Nilgari na Chhapra, located just behind the Jogani Mata temple near Suryanagar police chowki in Isanpur received their final “oral” eviction notices through loudspeakers on vehicles of the AMC, the residents continue to believe that not all of those who submit proofs, will be allocated alternate housing by the civic body.

AMC officials, meanwhile, have denied such claims, stating that “all residents able to prove residence in the area before December 1, 2010, would be given EWS category houses under the heading of Affordable Housing In-Participation in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) (Urban) under certain conditions.”

Sceptical about scheme

Residents, however, are highly sceptical about the alternative housing scheme which received in-principle approval of the Standing Committee of the AMC on May 8. On May 9, large crowds of potential evictees from Chandola lake had thronged the AMC ward office in Danilimda to collect the forms to be submitted along with proofs.

However, even as the civic body, which recently conducted a survey of the encroachments on Chandola lake after the first phase of demolitions, in a statement on May 8, said that 2.5 lakh sqm of encroachment with 10,000 estimated illegal structures still remained standing. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Riddhesh Raval, who heads the Estate Department of AMC, admitted that only 3,600 forms had been distributed to residents and none had yet been submitted back with proofs.

When asked about the popular belief that only those who would win a “draw” would get the alternate housing, Raval said, “We have to give everyone with requisite proofs the alternate housing. The lottery or draw is not for that purpose and the government has not said that anywhere. This is a misunderstanding. The draw in this case is only regarding who will be allocated which house.”

The Indian Express spoke to several residents in the bylanes of Chandola lake and many said they had collected the form from the AMC ward office but found only one who claimed he was planning to apply for the EWS housing.

The Indian Express also spoke to a brother-sister duo, spotted with their belongings inside a shop where the electricity connection had not been cut, indicating that it was not yet up for demolition — at least for now. While the brother said he planned to fill the form and submit it along with proofs, his sister hasn’t been able to fill it because her husband doesn’t have the required proofs.

Meanwhile, residents in and around Chandola lake, even if they have residential proofs and are willing to fill the form to seek alternate housing, face other issues. They said the costs will double for them if they have to pay rent for one place while paying installments for another house.

The process of verification of documents of those who apply for alternate housing is likely to take some months. AMC Standing Committee Chairman Devang Dani had earlier told The Indian Express that the EWS houses to rehabilitate the eligible beneficiaries from Chandola lake were under construction and would only be ready for possession by May 2026.

Speaking to The Indian Express, 40-year-old Tejal Dantani, whose husband Vijay is a scrap vendor, said, “We eat from what we earn on a daily basis. Once they throw us out of here, how do we fix our priorities? How do we go to live on rent, pay these installments for the alternate housing and feed our children at the same time? Even if we borrow money, how will we be able to pay it back? We don’t want anything from the government except a roof over our heads.”

Notably, several residents also raised the issue of rents in nearby areas of Isanpur and Danilimda being hiked by owners, from the usual Rs 2,000-3,000 to Rs 5,000-6,000 or even up to Rs 10,000. Owners, they say have also fixed the deposit amount at two to three times higher than usual.
Jasu Vadhiyari, a vegetable vendor, also alleged caste discrimination in finding rented accommodations nearby.

Several are also worried about babysitting the children when both the parents are at work. One woman said, “While we know all our neighbours here, we can leave our children with some other women while we go to work. Once we are dispersed by the demolitions, I will have to stay at home to look after the kids, cutting our income in half while paying double for rent as well as installments for the alternate housing.”

When asked about how evictees from Chandola Lake were setting up hutments and creating new encroachments in other parts of the city, Commissioner of Police Gyanender Singh Malik said, “The AMC has already announced a rehabilitation plan for the people displaced from here (Chandola) and according to the rules, they will to be alloted housing by the AMC. And if they encroach elsewhere, the corporation will demolish that as well.”

‘No Phase-3’

“There will not be a Phase-3 of demolitions,” said an official of the AMC when asked about the number of phases the civic body plans to clear the encroachment along the lake.

Raval said, “We will begin demolition at 7 am on May 20. All the people living there have been informed. We have conveyed the message and it appears like people are willing to accept it. We will complete all demolitions this time.”

When asked as to why written notices had not been served to the evictees, Raval said, “We have done publicity. Notice means giving information and that doesn’t always mean on paper. It’s not as if nobody knows that demolitions are to be done. Our vehicles have been going around since yesterday telling people to vacate the area.”

The main road outside Isanpur police station and nearby premises were on Monday morning filled with hundreds of police personnel, with CP Malik having arrived to inspect the preparations a day before the demolitions.

Speaking to the media inside the Isanpur police station, Malik said, “Chandola lake had become a haven for Bangladeshis — 207 were just from Chandola lake area. In 2009, 95 Bangladeshis had been caught from Chandola and at that time too, demolitions were done. An Supreme Court judgment says you cannot encroach the lake area. Last time some people had gone to the high court but got no relief.”

Malik added, “We have deployed a Joint CP, an Additional CP, 6 DCPs and a total of 3,000 policemen and 25 SRP companies — to be present at the site in two shifts. We will also use drones…”