220 families homeless as Ctg slums demolished

Around 220 families became homeless after the Chattogram City Corporation's drive to demolish slums in Dewanhat and Batali Hill areas of the port city in the last few days.

The families living in a slum under the Dewanhat bridge for nearly three decades now have nowhere to live after the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) evicted them on Tuesday.

They are now spending days in measurable conditions under the open sky.

Currently, many families are staying in knee-deep water around the area. Many are still trying to salvage their belongings from the ruins of the slum.

Bilkis Akhter, an evicted slum dweller, told TBS, "I lost my house in 1991 and took shelter under this footbridge. The house I have been living in for 32 years was demolished with a day's notice. Now I do not know where to go with my children."

The slum dwellers complained that Anwar Hossain Anu, president of Dewanhat City Corporation's Market Traders' Association, was in control of the slum for about 15 years. A syndicate under his leadership used to collect Tk2,000-4,000 per house as rent per month.

Recently, a dispute started between North Pathantuli Ward-23 Councilor Mohammad Jabed and Anwar Hossain Anu regarding the control of the slum. The slum was demolished without rehabilitating its inhabitants due to that dispute, said the evicted inhabitants.

Abul Hashem, an official of the CCC, said, "I and the ward councilor went and informed them about their eviction a month ago. Also, a week ago our magistrate went and requested them to vacate the place."

Mohammad Jabed and Anwar Hossain Anu could not be reached over phone for comments regarding the matter.

Eviction with futile promises of rehabilitation

Magistrate Marufa Begum Nelli evicted 20 structures from the foothills of Batali Hill in Chattogram on Thursday.

The evicted people alleged that the city corporation demolished shops and looted and destroyed the goods without prior notice. In protest, the angry people surrounded the Chattogram City Corporation temporary office at Tigerpass that day.

In the face of the protests, CCC officials went to the spot and assured slum dwellers that they will be rehabilitated in the North Pahartali area of the city.

Sohail, an evicted slum inhabitant, said, "We used to live in the Tiger Pass area where currently the city corporation's temporary office is located now. The authorities demolished our huts there, saying that they would build accommodations for us in that place. But when the building was completed, the city corporation itself occupied it."

On 11 June 2007, 127 people were killed in landslides in different parts of Chattogram due to heavy rains. After the incident, an inquiry committee of experts recommended rehabilitating the people living in the mountains.

Consequently, slum dwellers were evicted from the foothills of the Batali Hills in 2013 with the promise of rehabilitation.

Later, the CCC took up a project to rehabilitate 161 low-income families in the Tiger Pass area. At the initial stage, the city corporation took the copy of the national identity card and affidavit from 33 slum dwellers.

At that time, the price of each flat was estimated at Tk6 lakh. Tk10,000 is charged from each person for the apartment as advance. The slum dwellers were supposed to pay the price of the houses in monthly installments of Tk2,500.

The construction of the building started in Tigerpass in 2013 and the project was completed in 2016. But when the construction ended in 2019, the city corporation started using it as its own office instead of handing it over to the people who paid money for it.

Former chief town planner of CCC Reza Kaiser, who prepared the plan for the project, said, "It is a tragedy that the city corporation itself occupied the building that was built for the homeless people."