25,000 people evicted to "safeguard" the environment
The Calcutta High Court, gave the green light for the eviction, violating fundamental human rights. NGOs protest.
Calcutta (AsiaNews/Agencies) Around 25,000 people have been evicted from their homes in Gobindpur railway colony in western Bengal. The eviction operation started on 10 November after authorization was granted on 9 September by the Calcutta High Court, following a petition filed by the Ganatantrik nagrik Committee, a local organization which ostensibly promotes respect for the environment. The committee appealed to the court to have residents vacate the zone. The appeal for the eviction to be postponed for a year was unsuccessful.
The court decision ignores the right to adequate shelter and the most basic rights of the poor. Ironically, the eviction order was made to safeguard the "Rabindra Samovar" pond, named after the famous poet Rabindra Nath Tagore, a man who committed himself to working for the life and needs of the population.
The Asian Commission for Human Rights (AHRC) has called attention to the problem several times, especially regarding a similar case in 2003 when around 7,000 people were evicted from their homes in Bellilious Park after a like environmental petition was filed. The Court refused to accept even to listen to the evicted people, who live in inhumane conditions, despite numerous appeals from the AHRC and its local collaborator, the Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum) organization and NGOs like UNICEF. In recent years, Bellilious Park was never "beautified" as promised and it remains in the same state of disrepair as two years ago.
The majority of people who have lost their homes are Dalits, so-called untouchables. According to AHRC: "In the minds of the high court judges in Calcutta, these people are less even than animals. This is the only explanation as to why the court repeatedly disregards all of their fundamental rights to a hearing, why it so callously and shamelessly permits mass evictions which cause such immense suffering, misery and degradation." The problem of pollution is real but resolving it calls for cleaning rubbish dumps, public toilets and sewage systems and taking polluting vehicles off the streets. Says the AHRC: "Instead of condemning people, the court should clear its own mind first. The eviction of the Gobindpur Railway Colony, like the Bellilious Park eviction before it, constitutes a blatant denial of the rights to adequate shelter, food, equality, freedom from discrimination, and indeed, the right to life itself. Clean up the high court first."
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