Who demolished over 100 shanties in Surat slum? Civic body, police shift blame
The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has denied its involvement in the action even as the local BJP MLA, Vinu Moradiya, said later on Monday that there was “something fishy” about it.
A woman lies atop the rubble of houses demolished in Nashirnagar area of Katargam in Surat. (PTI) A resident of Nasirnagar slum in Surat’s Ved Darwaja area moved the Gujarat High Court on Monday, challenging the demolition of several shanties and alleging that “due process was not followed” and sought a stay on the “drive”.
While the demolition of nearly 100 units were carried out from May 28, allegedly under police protection, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has denied its involvement in the action even as the local BJP MLA, Vinu Moradiya, said later on Monday that there was “something fishy” about it.
The Special Civil Application (SCA) filed by Hussain Aziz Shaikh (40), whose house is yet to be demolished, has made the State of Gujarat, Surat Municipal Corporation, Surat Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Special Operation Group respondents in the case.
Commuters move past debris of demolished houses in the Nashir Nagar area of Katargam, in Surat. (PTI)
Sources told The Indian Express that some people “dressed in sky-blue shirts and black trousers, accompanied purportedly by Surat police Special Operation Group personnel and Chowk Bazaar police personnel, were part of the demolition squad”. While residents claimed that the drive was done by the SMC, municipal commissioner N Nagarajan said on Monday, “We have not done demolition, our officials had gone only for line marking. Our teams were present for the demarcation of a road proposed by a private party. The land is privately owned and a part of the plot has been assigned to build a road under the town planning scheme. Our function is first we do land marking and then after a few days we carry out demolition. This demolition was not done by us.”
Officers in the Surat police, however, told The Indian Express that they received an application and other required documents from SMC authorities to provide security for the demolition in the Nasirnagar slums. “It was a demand made by SMC, so we provided police force to prevent any incident of law and order”, claimed an officer who did not wish to be named.
On May 29, local Congress leaders made representations to Municipal Commissioner Nagarajan, Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut, District Collector Tejas Parmar, Mayor Mayaben Mavani and Standing Committee Chairman Rajan Patel seeking redressal on behalf of the residents. The petition said the slum-dwellers had been occupying the land for “35 years” and there were 250 such units in the Nasirnagar slum, which was located on private land.
Salim Shaikh, a resident of Nasirnagar, said, “I drive an autorickshaw for a living and to feed my family: wife and three children. My father stayed in this house, and after his death, I started staying here. We are regularly paying property taxes to the SMC, and we have registered meters and a water pipeline connection. We stay on the land owned by a private person. How can the SMC evict us?”
Congress corporator Arshad Jariwala said, “When I spoke with the municipal officials of the Central Zone and the Katargam Zone, they told me they had visited to demarcate the road. The police took me away and later carried out demolitions. Following our representations to the higher authorities, the demolition activities were stopped the next day.”
Katargam MLA Moradiya told The Indian Express, “Something has gone wrong there. The municipal corporation officials went for demarcation of the road in the area, and when the public approached them about houses being demolished, they did not give perfect answers. Even the police present at the site did not favour the local people.”
Moradiya said, “As per my information, a builder’s land is nearby the Nasirnagar area and he wanted to get these slums removed… The builder has demanded a small road leading to his under-construction project. We also wanted to know why the SMC went ahead and removed entire slum settlements… Something fishy is going on among the SMC officials.”
The application filed by advocate Zameer Shaikh on behalf of Aziz Shaikh claims that Aziz has been living in Nasirnagar since 1990. Aziz has sought a stay of demolition and relief for those whose houses were demolished till the petition is disposed of by the Gujarat High Court.
Aziz’s Advocate Zameer Shaikh said, “We filed a special Civil Application before the High Court… notices have been issued to all the respondents to remain present in the forthcoming hearing.”
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