They have been told to vacate their slums by Monday

A large group of people squat in front of a makeshift tea stall amidst a sprawling slum at Kundalahalli Gate near Marathahalli. Anxiety is writ large on their faces. For the past two days, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and police officials have been making the rounds of the slum telling residents to vacate by Monday. They warned that a horde of bulldozers will flatten their corrugated tin houses if the more than 5,000 slum-dwellers do not leave voluntarily.

The motley crowd — most work as domestic help, construction labourers, drivers and ragpickers, or do odd jobs in the interstices of the IT hub — gathered to discuss their course of action.

“If they are going to demolish my home, I will not go to work on Monday. Like me, there are at least 40 school bus drivers in the slums. They (residents in the area who have complained against the slum) can’t cast us aside and expect us to turn up for work,” says Laltu Shiek, 35, a father of two, who migrated to the city 1.5 years ago from Nadia district in West Bengal.

Electricity connections have been cut in the area. Without electricity, residents have no access to the borewells that provide them with water or to run the temporary toilets set up there.

Noor Islan Shiek, who came to the city 12 years ago from Murshidabad in West Bengal, says the community has not faced a threat like this before. “Till now, we have not had a problem, not even been accused of being Bangladeshis. Now, our entire life here is under threat. I get my monthly payment for work only on December 10. Only after that do we even have money to go back home. Until then, we may have to stay on the streets,” he said.

“Two weeks ago, health and education officials visited the place. We hoped for temporary camps to teach children in Kannada here or for health checkups as dengue and malaria are rampant here. Instead of providing services for those who work here, the government authorities are uprooting them and their lives,” said M. Hasaan, who, along with Dhiman Sau, runs a temporary school for children. For nearly a year, the two techies have spent the weekend in the slum, ensuring education for the 70 children who attend their classes.

Warning to landowners

While earth movers are expected on Monday, landowners, who have rented their plots to the slum-dwellers, have come under police scrutiny.

Manjunath Gowda, who owns a 2.5 acre plot, was detained at Varthur police station for several hours on Saturday. “The police said if I don’t clear my plot, they would arrest me. I pleaded with them for time. I have told my tenants to leave within 10 days,” he said.

It was just eight months ago that he let out his land. “It is private land. We are giving it to the poor. Who is the government to evict them when we do not have a problem?” said another landowner.

The slum-dwellers have few options in a city where land prices soar higher with each day. With meagre salaries of ₹5,000 or so per household, they can just about afford the rent, which is ₹800-₹1,000 per month.

Suspicion about origins

The eviction was announced by MLA Arvind Limbavali, who claimed that the slum-dwellers are from Bangladesh, and even issued a warning to construction companies not to hire ‘illegal immigrants’. BBMP officials said action had to be taken to prevent a health and environmental crisis, particularly as ragpickers were burning vast amounts of plastic in the area.

Jalaluddin, who is from Malda in West Bengal, says, “There is no proof that we are illegal immigrants. We have documents that clearly show we are from West Bengal. We even have land documents from there. People do burn garbage, but it is not a crime that deserves to be punished with homelessness. We could have at least been given warnings.”

R. Karimullah from the Movement for Justice, which is attempting to rally the slum-dwellers, says the daily violence against them had started nearly two months ago in the aftermath of the elections. “With each crime, the police round up youth of the area saying they are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. There is undeniable documentary proof that they are Indians, but repeating this lie ensures that the entire community is blacklisted and their eviction is made easier,” he said.