Urban INDIAN Development J SOC DEV, & VOL. Squatter 11, No. Eviction 2 (JULY-DECEMBER in Orissa: A Study 2011), of 489-494 Bhubaneswar City 489 URBAN DEVELOPMENT & SQUATTER EVICTION IN ORISSA A STUDY OF BHUBANESWAR CITY Samapika Mohapatra * & Manju Singh ** The phenomenon of urbanization and the problem of slums and squatters or the settlements of lower income groups are superimposed over one another and can not be separated from each other or viewed in isolation. The development of slums and squatters is the consequence of lower order urbanization, a characteristic feature of most cities and towns in the developing world whether they are planned and indigenous type. The intensity of problems varies from town to town and city to city depending on the city size, functional characteristics, the functional behaviour of rural hinterland surrounding the city, the physical and topographical characteristics of city proper, the level of economic status of the state/ country to which the city belongs, whether it is planned new town or an indigenous one and finally the level of management of urban problems by the urban planners and municipal authorities. The quantum of slum dwellers varies from 5-10% in small and medium towns, to more than 40% in big cities and metropolises. The Indian urban situation is no better than the general situation currently prevailing in developing nations. The metropolises like Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad etc. in India have more than one-third of the total population as slum dwellers. Over the last few years, there has been an unprecedented rise in the process of industrialization followed by urbanization in India. As a result, people migrate from rural areas to urban parts of India in lure of jobs to lead a good and comfortable life. This has also resulted into propagation of slums in the capital city, Bhubaneswar and thereby affecting socio-cultural and political dimensions of urban community itself. In the recent past, the number of slum dwellers in Bhubaneswar, has increased alarmingly as reported from the survey conducted by BISWA (Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency, India NGOs, 2009) that there are now 377 slums pockets in the city itself, constituting the population of 4 lakh.in the name of development of city-life, the forcible eviction of urban slum dwellers in Bhubaneswar, creates many other social problems which is a major issue and challenge for people of human right concern. The Government of Orissa gave the following reasons for eviction: 1. To beautify the city. 2. To ensure developmental constructions, making sewage system, telephone cabling, new roads etc. 3. To utilize the landscape for useful purposes like building hospitals, play grounds for promoting sports, hostels for working people etc. * Asst. Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Women s Study, Banasthali University, Rajasthan. ** Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Women s Study, Banasthali University, Rajasthan.
490 Samapika Mohapatra & Manju Singh 4. To reduce congestion in the city 5. To rehabilitate the slum dwellers with better facilities. The government of Orissa started the forcible eviction from the year 1987 and which continues till now. The Objectives of this Paper 1. To analyse the problems currently encountered by the slum-evictees. 2. To probe into the various antecedent factors such as nature, causes and effects of their eviction. 3. To probe into whether the government has been successful in beautifying the city by evicting the slum dwellers 4. To have an over all knowledge about the government facilities the slum evictees enjoy. 5. To know the causes, why number of slums increasing day by day in the city despite of Government s effort of slum s eviction and rehabilitation. Methodology Present study is based on 4 rehabilitated slum-sites (Jagmara, Dumduma, Patia, Joklandi) of Bhubaneswar city of Orissa. On the basis of Snow Ball Method of sampling, 18 respondents (55 + Age group) were purposively selected for interview and in addition to that, 4 group discussions were held i.e. one from each rehabilitated site for strengthening the study. Qualitative method of data analysis was also used for the present study. Result And Discussion Slums Eviction in Bhubaneswar : Historical Over View Bhubaneswar the capital city of Orissa is only 61 years old city. It was decided by the government of Orissa to make Bhubaneswar the capital in the year 1948. After that the whole construction works started to develop and beautify the city. A master plan was made to make it a planned city like Chandigarh. As reported from Case No-5 and the Case No-9, it was known that initially it was predicted that Bhubaneswar s population will not be more than 40,000 in future. The labour class people were needed immediately for the purpose of construction of the city. As a result, hundreds and hundreds of labour-class families who belong to lower economic strata of the society were brought to the city by trucks. As the labour class people had no property in the city, they started living by making their own squatters in the nearby work place and that was in the government s landscape. Their residential places originated as slums for the first time in Bhubaneswar.In this process, gradually the city developed and its population developed. In 1991 population census, the total population of the city was 4 lakhs 12
Urban Development & Squatter Eviction in Orissa: A Study of Bhubaneswar City 491 thousands. By the year 1991, the number of slums was 190 and now in the year 2009, it has increased to 377 slums. Case No-2 revealed that from 1948 onwards, the slum dwellers had been living in government vacant lands of Bapuji Nagar And Ashok Nagar locality. But in the years 1957-1960, the then Orissa government displaced them and sent them to Satya Nagar Sramik colony and Mali Sahi colony respectively. The state government also provided 27ft/27 ft plot to each of the slum s family with the licence to make their own house in the given plot. And all the licences were registered in the registrar office. In this connection, Case No-3, one of the very old residents of Satya Nagar slum opined during our interview that all the credit of achieving plots in Satya Nagar and Mali sahi should go to Late Mr. Lal Bihari Pradhan, the then President of Rajadhani Sramik Sanghs. But despite of having licensed plot and authorized settlements, the residents of Satya Nagar Shramik colony and Mali Sahi colony, were sent to the out skirt of the city, Bhubaneswar in the year 1982 as reported from the Case No-4. The government made allegation against the slum dwellers of these two slum colonies that the slum dwellers of these two slums had encroached the govt land illegally. Thus from time to time, the state government of Orissa succeeded by evicting the innocent slum dwellers from Shastri Nagar, Bapuji Nagar, Satya Nagar, Unit-5, and Surya Nagar etc. The Case No-7, 11, 16 and 17 reported that the government also destroyed their houses and the schools in the area without any legal notice which were indeed very inhuman acts, ever done by the Orissa Government. The following table narrates the eviction of slums by the the Orissa Government and their rehabilitation in the outskirts of the city in different time periods. Slum Eviction by the Government of Orissa Year Name of the slum Place of rehabilitation 1974 Shastri Nagar Slum Jagmara (Ganda Munda Chauk) 1982 Satya Nagar Shramik Colony Dumduma 1982 Mali Sahi Colony Dumduma 1982 Slum of Unit 5, BBSR. Jagmara 1984 Tribal people of Surya Nagar Slum No rehabilitation 1984 Sahid Nagar Slum No Rehabilitation 1987 Suka Vihar Nagar Slum Dumduma 1988 Ashok Nagar Railway Slum No rehabilitation 1988 Madhusudan Nagar Slum Dumduma 1988 Shastri Nagar Slum Joklandi 1988 Suka Vihar Nagar Slum Patia (from the sources of our respondents). In protest against the government s inhuman Slum eviction Abhiyan,the slum dwellers made their resistance. As reported from the Case No -6,13,and 15,they obstructed the railway lines, national highway. But consequently, they had to give the great price for that. The case no-14 said that many of them were paralysed, accused
492 Samapika Mohapatra & Manju Singh and were even convicted as criminals and imprisoned years and years. But still the protest against the Orissa Government continued. In her flash back,the case No-1, Mrs Basanti Dei revealed how she along with other slum-dwellers, had once visited the the then chief minister of Orissa and how the chief minister didn t give his appointment and knowingly tried to move out by his car from the residence towards Khurda District. She had also revealed her poignant story of sleeping down in front of the Chief Minister s car along with her breast fed child, just for giving the request letter to him for stopping the govt s eviction movement. Consequently, the Chief Minister accepted and handed over the letter to his personal secretary and gave his assurance to the slum dwellers that the action will be duly taken by the Orissa Government as early as possible. With moisture eyes she told that the assurance was just the eye wash. It was in the year 1989, on behalf of Rajadhani Slum-dwellers Welfare Association, the social activist, Mr. Biswa Priya Kanungo drew the attention of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court by writing a letter mentioning the plight of the poor slum dwellers in consequence of the government s eviction process as the Case No-8 and the Case No- 10 reported to the present researchers. Mr. Kanungo also requested the chief Justice to take due action against the Orissa Government. Then the letter was forwarded by the Chief Justice to the Orissa High Court and that was accepted and registered as Public Interest Litigation Case. The Case No-12 told us during the discussion that how by the order of the High Court, O.J.C. (Office for Judicial Complaints) considered and registered the case as a writ which was filed against the Orissa Government. But on behalf the govt., the clarification was given that the slum dwellers had not been evicted forcibly but they had left the place in their own wish. On the other hand, the evictees opined they had been evicted by the govt. not because of any public interest rather for the vested interested of the politicians and bureaucrats. Against those complaints of the slum dwellers, the Orissa High Court appointed one man commission to probe the whole incidents of govt. eviction process in the year 1993. Thus Mr. Saroj Kanta Mishra, the then President of Orissa Administrative Tribunal was authorized to probe the cases. Finally, 73 pages of Report of the commission revealed that the evidences which were produced by the Orissa Government in High court, were not authentic and the report declaratively mentioned that the slum dwellers were all innocents. The Commission gave the final notice to Orissa Development Executives that Orissa Development Law1982 (section-91) and Prohibition of Illegal Encroachment of Public Land Law 1972 must be kept in mind while evicting the slum dwellers. The Case no 18 reported that it is a matter of great astonishment that day by day the number of slums in Bhubaneswar is increasing instead of decreasing.and Government Of Orissa is unable to rehabilitate them properly. As a result, the evictees face the problems which are as follows: Problems of Eviction 1. Away from their work place and tentatively become jobless. 2. Domestic helpers loose their earnings by living away from residential colonies.
Urban Development & Squatter Eviction in Orissa: A Study of Bhubaneswar City 493 3. They remain away from hospital, schools etc which add to their problems. 4. Incapability of the Government to meet the proper rehabilitation of all the evictees in the due time as a result they gradually become disorganized. Conclusions The economic development sometimes gives rise to social problems, disequilibrium in society which needs immediate solution. After modernization and economic liberalization in India, the growing city life has become a major problem as it gives rise to propagation of slums. The lives of the urban poor living in slums are characterized by poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, unhygienic living, low income and other maladies which account for sub-human living. Poor people generally migrates towards cities in lure of jobs to lead a good and comfortable life. Consequently, the cities are found to accommodate more than they could, thereby generating imbalances, which threaten the progeny of labour group. Serious problems in the areas of housing, health, nutrition, employment and income exist. Immediate effort by policies, planning, programme implementations and various social and welfare measures by the Govt.and N.G.Os should be taken to meet their problems. It is because holistic and integrated development of people, especially the poor living in urban and rural areas is vital for nation development. The slums are constituent parts of urban way of life. The role of slum dwellers in the process of development is of paramount importance and they act as a multitude service institutions. Their manpower provides the labour force, which the urban community needs for its development. We can never eliminate the urban poor but we can fight for their betterment in order to bring about the parity between the haves and have-nots in society. But the demolition of slums or shifting and rehabilitation not only cause injury to the slum dwellers but also severely affect the on-going system of city life. It has violated slum dwellers basic human rights (The right to housing, the right to a decent standard of living, the right to health, the right to work, the right to education, the right to life, the right to Justice etc.) Though our country adopted the plan development for improving the social, economic life of its citizen, it has not achieved much progress. It has been realized that the Slum Clearance Programmein any part of the city generally creates a negative reaction and mass discontent with socio-emotional, economic and political dynamics on the one hand and on the other, rehabilitation of the slum dwellers even if with the provisions of land and shelter and basic services, can never give the economic security of the people as before. Under this circumstances, a fresh revision in out look and action is essential for minimizing the on-going slum problems. How ever the development plan of the government should not ignore the necessity of slum clearance programmes which is only be possible when the public interest is much higher than the collective interest of the slum dwellers. The present study has its significance from practical point of view as it draws immediate attention of town planners, administrators and social researchers to take immediate action and check the problems on priority basis.
494 Samapika Mohapatra & Manju Singh References Slum and Development Programmes in Eastern India by J. K. Routray and A. K. Pradhan, Habitat International, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1989. Jobs for the Poor by Harris Nigel, Rosser, Colin, Kumar Sunil (1996), Print Perfect, New Delhi. Impact of Development Programmes on Slum Dwellers of Bhubaneswar, A Report of CYSD, Rehabilitation of Slums & Slum Dwellers, Slum & J. J. Department, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, 1994. Census Report, Govt. of Orissa, 1991. The Survey Report of Bhubaneswar Muncipal Corporation, 2008. The Report Submitted by BISWA (Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency): A National NGO, 2009. 18 Cases For References Cases No. 1. Basanti Dei, Jagmara slum. 2. Mr. Kulamani Pradhan, Dumduma. 3. Mr. Kashinath Dash, Dumduma. 4. Mr. Banamali Rout, Jagamara. 5. Mr. Kishore Bhol, Dumduma. 6. Mr. Arjun Panda, Joka Landi. 7. Mr. Guru Prasad Mohanty, Jagmara. 8. Mr. surendra Bhanja Deo, Patia. 9. Mr. Prasant Jena, Joklandi. 10. Mr. Kali Prasad Nanda, Dumduma. 11. Mr. Bhaskar Maharana, Jagmara. 12. Mrs. Minati Majhi, Jagmara. 13. Mr. Bishnu Patra, Patia. 14. Mr. Promad Kundu, Dumduma. 15. Mr. Dinabandhu Maharana, Dumduma. 16. Mr. Binaya Behra, Jok Landi. 17. Mr. Pranakrushna Das, Jagmara 18. Mr. Deepti Ranjan Sahoo, Patia.