Kathmandu. Locals of Balaju area have been busy shifting their belongings since early morning as preparations were made to vacate the squatters’ settlement using bulldozers on Friday afternoon. The police had given the residents of the area until 12 noon to vacate the settlement.
According to the locals, around 90 per cent of the landless squatters have started evicting their settlements voluntarily. However, there is dissatisfaction and confusion among them. Shyam Bahadur Sunar, a local of the squatters, complained that the government was trying to evict them without giving them a proper alternative.
“We weren’t even explicitly told to get up and leave. There was only hope that we would move the end. Now it was very difficult to get up all of a sudden. We were living in poor misery, but the present government decided to get up. ’
Similarly, Raj Kumar Puri, another local, became emotional and said that the common man should find an alternative to make a living by working.
He said, “I have brought all the things to this ground. Citizenship, national identity card and voter ID card are all from this address. I don’t have anybody, everyone has passed away here. I make a living by working as a wailing—if I have work, I can eat, or I don’t have that. I am not a squatter, I am a squatter. I’ve been living here since I was a kid. ’
According to them, the removal of settlements has directly affected the daily life of the locals while the issue of rehabilitation is still uncertain.
Leave your comment