Slum dwellers rally against eviction in Odisha’s Sambalpur

Thousands of Ghunghuti Para residents in Sambalpur, on 12 July, took out a protest march from Ambedkar Square to the collectorate office against the Odisha government’s plan to evict them from their locality as part of the Samaleswari temple beautification project. The protest was spearheaded by 18 like-minded Bahujan organisations in the Sambalpur district, who came together under the banner of Bahujan Milita Manch to save the Ghunghuti Para slum, a statement by Bhubaneswar-based All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice read. 

The immediate trigger for the protest was the Orissa High Court judgment on 12 July which had stated that since “the land which the Petitioners are presently occupying is Government land,” government is within its right to take possession of it and “the question of the Petitioners seeking any relief of rehabilitation and resettlement in terms of 2013 Act (The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013) does not arise.”

The lawyers’ association’s Balkishor Chattar contested the judgment saying, “There has been a consistent demand with the government and the administration for land deeds since a long time; however, the government has ignored this demand and demonstrated a nexus with land mafia and builders. The government hasn’t yet put in place any detailed plan for the Samalei plan.”

The Samalei (Samaleswari Temple Area Management and Local Economic Initiative) plan was devised by the Naveen Patnaik government to carry out improvement of the Samaleswari temple on the lines of the Jagannath Temple in Puri and the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. As per a report in Outlook, “The redevelopment includes beautification and peripheral development of the temple, heritage corridor, state-of-the-art amenities and the Mahanadi riverfront development.”

Chattar raised alarm regarding the disastrous effects the eviction will have on the lives of slum dwellers. “If slum dwellers of Ghunghuti Para are evicted, then it will negatively affect their lives and livelihood, education of the children. On one hand, the residents of Ghunghuti Para who have made it their home since more than 450 years are being evicted under the Samalei Plan for the supposed purpose of beautification and development by exploiting religious sentiments, on the other hand it is understood that the government plans to sell their rightful lands to the corporates at cost next to nothing,” he said.

Youth leader Madhusudhan stated that the protest will continue till the demands are met. “This is our struggle for hope and existence; exploiting religious sentiments to counterpoise it is thoroughly oppressive. Our struggle for life of dignity and for equal citizenship will intensify if the residents of Ghunghuti Para are not provided with land deeds, pucca house and other basic amenities for their health and well-being. We will resist this oppression and injustice from streets to the courts,” he said.