Living in Hell: Struggle for Survival

Those who labor to build cities are destined to be excluded from the cities they built. This has been the history of the slum dwellers all over the world. Consigned to the fringes of the city, they make their jhuggi-jhopdis and live in the filth and dirt of the “effluent zones” of the cities. The residents of the “affluent zones” hate the sight of these miserable “encroachers” but have to tolerate their existence as they are still useful for maintaining the city as casuals and domestic workers. But as the city expands, the bull-dozers push them out farther just as garbage is removed. The story of the mega-city Ahmedabad is no different and thousands of slum dwellers have lost their shanties in the last few years to the bull-dozers.

For over two decades, Jansangharsh Manch has mobilized such slum dwellers to help them in their struggle for survival and scores of rallies and meetings have been held during this time to demand a proper housing policy for the marginalized sections. The struggle to save the 242 residence of Salatnagar has perhaps assumed epic proportions since this cluster of slums despite being demolished once by the Corporation and burnt down in the 2002 riots, stills survives.

On 19th December, a large meeting was held in Piplaj, the “new Andaman” for the slum dwellers of Ahmedabad. Whenever a slum is demolished, as an “alternative” accommodation, the slum dwellers are given a small plot of land in Piplaj, which till recently was a desolate, remote area in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Though two years have passed after the establishment of this new cluster that houses the residents of Mahakali, Banas and other slums which were demolished, there are still no civic amenities like water, streets and gutters. The meeting resolved to fight for the JNURM facilities and a better future.

Earlier, on 4th December, a similar meeting was held in the Motera area by the residents of Valijibhai-ni-kuan to voice the same demand for improving the civic amenities like gutter, streets, drinking water and lights.