BANGALORE, December 11: Residents of slums from across the city gathered at the Town Hall here on Tuesday urging the government to meet the long list of outstanding demands on the occasion of World Human Rights Day. Prime among their demands was the scrapping of the Public-Private Partnership deal that has allowed Maverick Holdings Pvt. Ltd. to displace hundreds of slum residents to construct a mall at Ejipura.
Memorandum
In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, the agitators said that the deal requires the builder to construct multi-storey apartments for the displaced poor on half of the land in exchange for which a mall can be built on the other half. “He is going to spend Rs. 100 crore for the construction of the apartments. But he managed to get land and build a property worth Rs. 3,000 crore in exchange,” the memorandum said.
The memorandum also sought the State government’s intervention to stop forcible land acquisition and eviction of slum dwellers in the city.
The agitators demanded all slum areas to be legally notified as slums so as to protect them from land sharks and illegal acquisition. They also urged the government to expedite the long overdue process of granting title deeds to thousands of slum dwellers in the city.
