Last year in December, I got the chance to visit Savda Ghevra, a resettlement colony developed by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to accommodate families evicted from several sites across Delhi and rest of India.
During my brief meeting, I had the wonderful opportunity of interacting with a woman resident who was kind enough to share her heartbreaking story right from her eviction from West Bengal to her resettlement in Savda Ghevra Slum.
In this article, I have tried to capture the bits and pieces of her story to the best of my recollection, and I have also tried to capture their sufferings and their grit by writing a poem.
Her Story
She was born and raised up in West Bengal. After her marriage, she shifted to her husband’s home in Laxmi Nagar, Delhi.
Till the late 2000s, Laxmi Nagar was essentially a forest area. She and many others like her resided in a slum and survived on a measly income. The slum was big in terms of the population and there was just one tap for the whole slum. Dense vegetation cover posed a further challenge for women who had to travel long distances to collect water and other household supplies.
There were no sanitation facilities in or around their slum area. Almost the entire population defecated in the open. Till their eviction in 2006, there was no support from the government or various civic authorities. This is not surprising because even now our authorities hardly recognize and accept the existence of slum dwellers and migrants. They were not provided with any aid.
In 2007, all the slum dwellers were given informal lease agreements. They were given leases at ₹7000 per head for a period of 10 years. This lease has expired but up until now, the government has neither revoked it nor extended it.
Till date, they are relying on a water tanker to meet their requirements. They have now installed a submersible by collecting money among themselves. Till 2009, there was only one dispensary in the slum and no other healthcare facility. The nearest hospital was Sanjay Govt. Hospital. Even this hospital, at that time, was not well equipped and it always kept referring them to other hospitals. Reaching the hospital was a challenge in itself. There was only one Roadways bus and that would make only one trip in the entire day.
The government did not arrange for any credit facility for these people. No public institution was willing to extend any kind of financial aid, and informal moneylenders were thriving by charging an exorbitant 10% interest.
If there is one government facility which is thriving in the slum is that of ration. Surprisingly, ration facilities are available and seem to be performing effectively.
Slum dwellers are afraid of our courts. They are afraid of approaching the court for redressal, because they don’t expect any immediate outcome. They feel perplexed because of the complicated procedure of the court and even fear that the court might rule against them. After all, nothing is stopping the court from declaring them as illegal inhabitants because they are living on land for which they have no title.
These people cannot approach the banks as they find themselves lost within the files and forms. Procedures are a bit too skewed, at least for them. No one is patient enough to lend their ears. Now, security guards have been deported outside the bank premises to keep an eye on them.
Unheard Cries
Broken bones,
Sobbing eyes,
Wailing us, our helpless cries,
Hungry stomach,
Tender plight,
Where are they going, our painful cries?
Endless misery,
Boundless despair,
Wrecked souls,
Our Forlorn fears.
Is this it, the end of fight?
Triumph of fate, defeat of our might.
We always had, and will continue to desire,
Hunger, poverty, tyranny; nothing can douse our fire
Our bodies brittle, yet house copious valor
We may live in houses, dismal and rude,
And feed a family of six on a morsel of food
But don’t be mistaken, we are still in the fight
Ready to win, conquer all the might
Blaze our homes, ruin our cities,
But nothing you do will shatter our spirits.
Fence your house and barricade your land,
Cause we are coming to strike and strike and strike again.
This is our city and we have a right,
We will claim it in front of your eyes.