Op mod 40.000 mennesker, som lever i Dhakas største slum, risikerer at miste deres hjem efter at de juridisk er beordret fjernet. Indtil nu er ca. 4.500 smidt ud, og beboerne lever i daglig frygt for, at bulldozerne skal fjerne deres ringe bolig.
DHAKA, 22 May, 2012 (IRIN): “Our day starts with the fear of bulldozer sounds and ends with the same fear,” Sopna Begum, 35, who lives in the Korail slum in the northern part of the city, told IRIN. “We cannot sleep at night, not knowing whether we will be evicted the next day or not.”
Such stories are not uncommon in this megacity of 14,6 million people, which the World Bank expects to top 20 million in 2020.
Between 300.000 and 400.000 new migrants arrive each year in search of a better life, placing additional strain on already stretched services.
Thousands settle in makeshift shelters in large informal settlements on government land, where there is often no piped water, electricity or sanitation, or provision is informal and not always safe.
British aid assistance
Exact numbers are not available, but at least 60.000 people were displaced by evictions in 27 of Dhaka’s slums between 2006 and 2008, the Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP) Programme, a joint initiative by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bangladesh Government, reported in 2011.
Although some of the people in Shopna’s shanty were evicted in early April, she and her three children and husband were still able to remain in their partly demolished shelter. Not everyone is that lucky – many are now spending their nights in the open.
On 4 April, the Dhaka district administration began demolishing around 2.000 illegal structures. According to the rights group, Coalition of Urban Poor, some 4.500 people were forced to leave their homes without advance notice, making it impossible for them to retrieve their belongings.
District magistrate Selim Hossain Bhuiyan noted that the evictions had been carried out in accordance with a January court order instructing that the land be cleared, and that “The High Court order is valid until someone appeals or gets a stay order.”
Korail, located on 69 hectares of government land, is the largest slum in Dhaka and home to at least 40.000 urban poor, many of them former farmers who came to the capital in search of jobs and now work as rickshaw pullers, garment workers or domestic helpers.
Constant threat
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95496/BANGLADESH-40-000-slum-residents-face-eviction
