INTERIM REPORT

OF THE PEOPLES
TRIBUNAL ON
SLUM
DEMOLITION,
REHABILITATION
AND
URBANISATION
IN CHANDIGARH
May 25, 2014
Lok Awaaz
Ghar Adhikar
Sangharsh Morcha
Shehri Beghar
Awaar Adhikar
Manch
Students for Society
Peoples Union for
Civil Liberties
Delhi Solidarity
Group.
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................... 1
FACILITATING ORGANISATIONS...................................... 2
COMPOSITION AND PROFILES OF THE TRIBUNAL ............... 2
METHODOLOGY.......................................................... 3
DEPOSITIONS FROM THE AFFECTED PEOPLE: .................... 3
OBSERVATIONS OF THE TRIBUNAL .................................. 5
TRIBUNALS VERDICT ................................................... 7
CONTACT DETAILS....................................................... 7
INTRODUCTION
n a bid to make Chandigarh a slum
free city, the UT administration
launched a Small Flats Scheme under
JNNURM in 2006 with a stated aim of
resettling the households on a rental basis
which have been included in the
biometric survey conducted by the Estate
office in the summer of 2006. According
to the administrations records, a total of
18 notified colonies with 23,974 families
amounting to a population of about one
lakh people are to be demolished. The
first demolition was carried out in 20
November 2013 of Colony no 5 and the
second round on 10 May 2014 of 4
colonies.
9 more colonies, namely, Madrasi
Colony Sector 26; Ambedkar Colony,
Hallomajra; Kabari Colony Indl. Area
Phase-I; Sanjay Colony Indl. Area Phase-
I; Kumhar Colony Sector 25; LBS
Colony, Palsora; Gursagar Bhattal Near
Vill. Maloya; Kalyan Near Khuda Lohra;
Janta Colony, Sector 25, have been given
an eviction notice which expires on 2
June 2014, after which about 30,000
persons will be rendered homeless.
People residing in these colonies
have been protesting against several
serious anomalies in the entire
resettlement process since 2006 and have
appealed to the administration many
times over to not carry out the
demolitions without addressing these
lacunae. Several organisations working on
the issue have also pointed out the
discrepancies and highlighted the
suffering endured by the largely poor and
working class population which resides in
these colonies. The administration
however has not only refused to address
these issues thereby violating its own
stated commitment to provide alternative
safe and hygienic living space before
demolition, it has gone ahead with the
demolition drive with utter impunity.
To highlight these serious issues, a
Public Hearing was called by a Peoples
Tribunal on Slum Demolition,
Rehabilitation and Urbanisation in
Chandigarh on 25 May 2014.
I
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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FACILITATING ORGANISATIONS
The Public hearing was facilitated
by Lok Awaaz in collaboration with
Ghar Adhikar Sangharsh
Morcha,
Shehri Beghar Awaar
Adhikar Manch,
Students for Society,
Peoples Union for Civil
Liberties, Chandigarh
Delhi Solidarity Group.
All these organisations have been
working on peoples issues, including on
housing rights, right to shelter, civil
liberties, democratic rights etc, since the
last several decades.
COMPOSITION AND PROFILES OF THE
TRIBUNAL
The Tribunal members were:
COLIN GONSALVES is a senior and
eminent advocate in the Supreme
Court of India. He is the Founder
Director of Human Rights Law
Network.
PROF. JAGMOHAN SINGH retired
from the Punjab Agriculture
University, Ludhiana. He is the
secretary of Association for
Democratic Rights, a democratic
rights group which was formed
during emergency. As a grandson
of Shaheed Bhagat Singh,
Jagmohan Singh has grown up
among freedom fighters and
revolutionaries.
INDU PRAKASH SINGH is the
National Convenor of National
Forum for Housing Rights. He has
been working on the issues facing
urban poor with special focus on
housing rights and homelessness
for over 2 decades.
PROF SWARANJIT KAUR
MEHTA retired from the
Department of Geography, Panjab
University, Chandigarh. She has
been the director of ICSSR and the
subject expert for UGC. After
teaching in Punjabi University
Patiala and Panjab University for
35 years she continued with her
research with IDC, Chandigarh.
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METHODOLOGY
The 4 members of the jury on the
Tribunal are not only experts who had
studied various dimensions of the issues
facing housing in cities and had several
years of experience in engaging with the
legal and administrative system on these
issues. A large number of people from all
the colonies- those demolished and
awaiting/denied rehabilitation, those
notified for demolition, those included in
the list of 18 and un-notified colonies
which face an uncertain future attended
the public hearing and 30 deposed before
the Tribunal. Many more wanted to
depose and share their experiences but
the paucity of time prevented the jury
from hearing everyone.
The jury asked for and were
provided a large number of documents
which included various proofs of
residence by the people; memoranda and
representations by organisations working
on the issue, and the Central government
and UT administration documents like
policy documents regarding Slum
rehabilitation, Census reports, the report
of the National Building Organisation, the
Small Flat Scheme and its implementation
process.
DEPOSITIONS FROM THE AFFECTED
PEOPLE:
As Professor Swaranjit Mehta
pointed it out in the concluding remarks
of the tribunal, not only are the issues
faced by the people and their experiences
of the people similar even if they live in
different colonies and are engaged in a
variety of occupations, their situation is
not unique either to Chandigarh or to
India. The urban working classes in India
and in the developing world face the same
experiences of maladministration,
bureaucratic apathy, neglect by both the
state and the rest of the citizenry
including the media, unsafe living
conditions, insecure futures and the
constant fear of displacement which was
narrated by the people in this hearing.
NISHAR KHAN of Colony no 5
recounted how an old man and a child
died when the demolition was carried out.
He pointed out that the demolition was
carried out in the winter and many people
were left to fend for themselves in that
extreme weather. He talked about the
high rates for rent over 3000-4000 per
room- which makes it impossible for the
colony people to afford a house anywhere
in the city or its periphery. Now those
who have taken refuge in the tin shed
tenements suffer from the extreme heat.
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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RAJINDER KUMAR whose house in
Colony no 5 was demolished underlined
how the labour of those living in the
colonies had gone into making
Chandigarh the City Beautiful it chooses
to call itself and the city wont remain
beautiful if it throws out people like him.
Asserting his claims to the city he said: If
I have to leave the city, I will take Chandigarh
with me, a resolve which was remarkable
as he had been doing the rounds of the
DC office for over 8 months.
LUCKY from LBS colony showed
that he had all the documents required
and his fathers name was listed in the
biometric survey but since his father had
passed away, his family was not
considered eligible.
USHA from Sanjay colony pointed
out that the political parties and the
administration had made sure that the
colony residents got their voter cards for
the 2014 elections but once the voting
was over, they did not try and prevent the
demolition. She asked the pertinent
question: If we are not to be considered citizens,
why get our Voter I cards made?
RADHEY SHYAM of Kajheri
Colony narrated how his colony was
never included in the biometric survey
despite the people petitioning the DC
from 2006 onwards and despite being un-
notified it was demolished on 10 May
2014.
YOGENDRA from LBS colony said
that when he like many other residents
started living in the colony in 1990, the
land belonged to a zamindar to whom
they paid rent and that the land was not
government land at that time. Yet his
name was not included in the biometric
survey.
Many people testified that when
they were excluded from the biometric
survey and when they tried to correct this,
they were given false promises that the
survey will be conducted again. It never
was despite many people having
documents which show that they have
been residents of the city from 1988 or
1990. Also a number of people alleged
that the biometric survey was carried out
in the months of May and June when a
number of residents go to their native
place and they wonder if it was done so
deliberately to exclude people from the
Scheme.
A large number of people testified
that they were constantly taunted by the
officials and the city residents for being
migrants from UP and Bihar and thus
having no claim to the city. They are
asked to go back to wherever they came
from. Raju from LBS colony clarified that
colony residents have come to
Chandigarh from many different parts of
the country and not just from UP and
Bihar. Prof Jagmohan Singh of the
tribunal later observed that the anti-
migrant sentiment faced by the people
was unfortunate since that undermined
the idea of India as a country which
belonged to all its citizens.
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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Women from the colonies
highlighted the specific problems they
faced. They narrated tales of harassment
and innuendo by the government
officials. They also pointed out the lack of
sanitation facilities and water in the
rehabilitation colonies. Working women
found the disruption of community life
had affected their ability to work and earn
a living as they could no longer leave their
children with other members of the
locality since rehabilitation and
displacement had split the older
communities which had been living
together for many years.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE TRIBUNAL
After a through perusal of the documents
and hearing the testimonies of the people,
the Tribunal made the following
observations:
1. The documents and the
testimonies prove that there are
various discrepancies at the level of
data collection and implementation
of the rehabilitation process
followed by the UT
Administration.
2. The Biometric survey of 2006
which has been made the most
important criteria to qualify for
rehabilitation was conducted in a
faulty manner. No prior
information about it was provided
and follow up process was not
followed to ensure that every
resident was included. It has not
covered everyone who resided in
the colonies in 2006 and who had
been residing there for many years.
A large number of people have
been left out and the
administration has not managed to
hear their complaints and make the
corrections required.
3. The administrations own records
show that it has not yet
constructed even half the number
of flats required to rehabilitate even
the 23874 families who have been
declared eligible by the biometric
survey.
4. Further rehabilitation promised
under previous instances of
demolition and slum clearance have
not been completed as testified by
those provided transit
accommodation in the form of tin
shed tenements.
5. The demolitions on 10 May 2014
were done when the electoral code
of conduct was operational.
6. While the UT administration has
notified 18 colonies, there are other
un-notified colonies within the
territory of Chandigarh whose
status is unclear. On 10 May 2014,
Kajheri Colony was demolished
though it is neither notified nor
was any demolition notice given.
7. The data is divided on the actual
number of slum population in the
city. The National Building
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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Organisation puts the number at
3,32,473 while the Census 2011
puts it at 94,950.
8. The demolitions which have thus
far been carried out (in November
and May) are a violation of the
Fundamental Rights, particularly
the Right to Life under Article 21
of the Indian Constitution. The
Supreme Court of India has in
various judgments ruled that Right
to Life includes the right to shelter
and housing.
9. If those who live and work in the
city cannot afford housing, it is the
duty of the government to
construct and provide affordable
housing.
10. There can be no cut-off date as it
flouts Article 14 of the
Constitution by preferring the
eligible to ineligible residents,
which is discriminatory.
11. Due process needs to be followed
by the UT administration. Survey
needs to be done such that all are
covered for rehabilitation. This has
been laid down very clearly by
various High Court and Supreme
Court orders.
12. The demolitions are also a violation
of the Right to Education under
Article 21-A of the Indian
Constitution as it has disrupted and
hampered the access to education
of the children who reside in these
dwellings. Demolitions were done
during examination time and this
has prevented children from taking
exams.
13. Biometric survey should not be
made the condition of eligibility for
rehabilitation. If people have other
documents to prove their residency
status in the colonies like a
Electoral Identity Card, Ration
Cards, the names of children in the
School records, it should be
considered adequate. In the Sudama
Singh & Others vs Government Of
Delhi & Anr. on 11 February, 2010,
the Delhi High Court had ruled
that any one document which
proves residence is enough to
qualify for rehabilitation.
14. There is a lack of accountability in
the administrative structure of the
city. The grievance redressal
mechanism has been proved
ineffective and inadequate as the
administration has not responded
to the complaints of the people.
The elected representatives,
Members of Parliament and the
Corporators, have not performed
their duty of protecting the
interests of the citizens whom they
represent.
INTERIM REPORT OF THE PEOPLES TRIBUNAL ON SLUM DEMOLITION, REHABILITATION AND URBANISATION IN CHANDIGARH
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TRIBUNALS VERDICT
Based on these observations the Tribunal
pronounced its verdict:
1. The notice for demolition issued
for demolitions of 9 colonies on
or after 3 June 2014 should be
withdrawn with immediate
effect. No further notice of
demolition should be met until
all the lacunae in policy and
implementation have been
addressed.
2. The Biometric survey of 2006
should be discarded and not
made a condition for assessing
eligibility for rehabilitation. Any
one document which can prove
residence should be considered
as adequate for rehabilitation.
3. The 2006 cut off date is arbitrary
and unconstitutional and should
be removed as a criterion.
4. The Small Flats Scheme, 2006
should be reviewed and made
people-friendly. Those aspects
of the scheme which violate the
constitutionally guaranteed
rights of the citizens must be
removed from it before it is
implemented.
5. As far as possible, rehabilitation
of affected people should be
done in situ.
6. Right to housing must be
recognised as a right of all
citizens and the Constitution
must be amended to include it.
7. It is the States responsibility to
provide housing through
agencies like the Chandigarh
Housing Board to the poor and
the working classes who live
and work in the city and
contribute to the making of the
city.
CONTACT DETAILS
LOK AWAAZ, CHANDIGARH
lokawaazchd@gmail.com
www.lokawaaz.org
Prof. Manjit Singh
9876725391
manjitsingh.prof@gmail.com
Daljit Ami
9781121873
daljitami@gmail.com
Arjun Sheoran, Advocate
9592771330
mail@arjunsheoran.com