Where will we take kids? slum dwellers wonder after demolition drive

Ludhiana: Piles of rubble dotted Manna Singh Nagar on Monday. A few people, covered with dust, tried to retrieve whatever they could from it. This was the scene in Manna Singh Nagar on Monday, when a team of MC Tehbazaari officials razed illegal shanties on govt land. The shanties were home to slum dwellers, who tried to stop the officials. Some even threw bricks at the MC team. Police personnel present at the spot averted a clash. Officials claimed that they had removed the shanties earlier but the encroachers had come back.
In the aftermath of the drive, people tried to collect their household articles strewn on the road. Children, oblivious to the fact that they no longer had homes, played happily. The adults said that they had no idea where to take the children now that their homes had been reduced to rubble. They rued that besides household goods, MC officials had even damaged the grocery they had.
As the MC team arrived with their machinery, the slum dwellers reasoned that they had been living here for decades and even had voter cards. Bitterly, they said that political leaders who solicited votes from them were absent when their homes were destroyed.
One of those affected said that they earned a livelihood by collecting dry waste from garbage and had very limited belongings. However, even these had been damaged. He said that they had nowhere to go now.
A woman standing by her mangled home said, "I have small children and the grocery has been damaged now. What will I feed them? We will not go anywhere even if these shanties are removed." She conceded that the shanties had been removed earlier and were rebuilt. Officials maintained that the land belonged to the govt and was the site of an upcoming park.
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