A 70-year-old Montu Das on Wednesday was seen crying while sitting on the floor of his stuffy room devastated as the Dhaka South City Corporation began evicting a section of people from the Miranzilla Harijan Sweepers Colony in Bangshal in Old Dhaka on Monday.
鈥榃e cannot sleep at night in fear of unpredictability as it is not certain what happens next. I grew up playing in this colony and I am old now with nowhere to go with my wife at this age,鈥� said Montu Das.
He started bawling while recalling his old memories in the colony, saying that it was very inhumane for the DSCC to evict them as their ancestors were living in the colony for centuries.
When his wife, Prativa Rani, 60, noticed that some people from outside went there to visit the victims of the eviction, she asked 抖阴精品, 鈥榃ill they not give us a place to stay?鈥�
A man, meanwhile, died and another landed in hospital after an attempt of suicide since the DSCC abolished at least 15 houses of the colony on Monday.
Residents and family members claimed that the eviction drive had affected their mental and physical health as fear and tension griped in the colony since Monday.
Gourab Das said, 鈥楳y father Gagan Das, 55, was physically fit until this eviction drive began. We have been protesting for our rights.鈥�
He claimed that his father died on Wednesday due to tension amid eviction and fear of losing house.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shammi Das, 32, tried to kill himself by hanging from a tree in the colony, said his brother Biru Das.
However, he was discharged from Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday morning, said Biru.
Harijans, who were brought to the region by the British colonial administration to work as cleaners, alleged that the DSCC mayor reassured them that only 20 houses would be demolished. But the corporation is evicting at least 87 out of 400 families to expand the kitchen market located in the area.
While prime minister Sheikh Hasina has declared that no one will be homeless, the DSCC began demolishing houses of cleaner community people in the colony on Monday, without providing them with any alternative accommodation.
The people of the community alleged that the authorities did not even give them any notice to relocate.
Shipan Das said that they did not voluntarily come to settle down in Dhaka city as they were brought to various urban cities in the region to work in sanitation.
He said that they had been neglected despite their crucial service to the city in maintaining public health and hygiene.
鈥榃e work with dirt and make sure the city is clean. Why is there no certainty about our place to live?鈥� he posed a question, adding, 鈥楾he children are skipping school as they are not in a state to think about anything than worrying about their living arrangements.鈥�
Abantika Rani, a third grader, told that she was skipping school as everything in her house was in a mess and her mother did not have time to wash her uniform for the past few days.
The cleaners alleged that Ward No 33 councilor Md Awal Hossain threatened the residents of the colony to leave the place quietly.
Awal Hossain was not available for comment despite several attempts over phone, and he also was not present at his office in the afternoon.
The DSCC mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh at an event on June 9 said that a decision to expand the existing kitchen market at Miranzilla was made in February 2016, and they started implementing the project this year.
A delegation, led by Bangladesh Harijan Oikya Parishad president Krisna Lal, went to the Nagar Bhaban as the excavators arrived on Monday.
The community members claimed that the mayor, however, did not meet them.
Association for Land Reform and Development executive director Shamsul Huda said that the DSCC鈥檚 move to evict the cleaner community people without ensuring rehabilitation was unlawful and violation of human rights.
The DSCC public relations officer Md Abu Nasher told 抖阴精品 on Wednesday that only the documented cleaners of the city corporation would be rehabilitated.
The DSCC could not ensure the rehabilitation of others, he added.
The DSCC chief executive officer Mizanur Rahman said that they were dealing the eviction process considering the maximum humanitarian ground.聽
A team of Left Democratic Alliance visited the colony Wednesday afternoon and urged the DSCC to stop the eviction drive in the colony without ensuring rehabilitation.
The Ganosamhati Andolan in a statement condemned the DSCC鈥檚 move to evict the cleaner community people without providing them with any alternative living arrangement.
Earlier, in February, 2023, the DSCC started demolishing houses of the Telugu cleaner community without ensuring rehabilitation. The corporation, later, evicted them after providing them with temporary living arrangements amid Telugu people鈥檚 protests.
