Bhubaneswar: Scores of residents of Laxmisagar Farm Gate Basti underWard no-51 staged a demonstration in front of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office here Monday, demanding that the civic body stop its eviction drive.
The slum dwellers, under the banner of Trinath Mazdoor Basti Association, submitted a memorandum to the BMC commissioner demanding that the administration rehabilitate the residents of the slum before carrying out any eviction.
Sources said, for the past 50 years, about 540 families are living in the slum near Basic Science College under Khandagiri police limits, majority of them being labourers and petty traders. Besides, many of them make a living by doing various odd jobs in the city.
They alleged that when the state government was claiming to give land rights certificates to the landless slum dwellers with promises of modern urban habitat, providing road connectivity, street lights, parks and playgrounds, then why was the administration in a hurry to evict them without any rehabilitation plan in place.
The slum dwellers, in the memo said that the civic body should stop the eviction until the issue was resolved. Besides, the residents have also asked the urban secretary and the BMC to hold discussion with them to solve the matter amicably.