Eviction without resettlement

In January 2016, a massive eviction drive was launched against Kallyanpur PoraBosti at Natun Bazar area without any prior notice and rehabilitation plan. The Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI), local police and outsiders conducted the eviction jointly. At least four people were injured. Agitated locals claimed that they were being evicted without any prior notice.
While the eviction drive was on, the High Court issued a stay order following a petition filed by Ain-o-Salish Kendra and the slum residents. Though the eviction drive stopped following the High Court order, the slum was ravaged by fire just a day after the eviction drive. Several shops and houses were completely gutted. The slum dwellers think that the incident of fire was deliberately orchestrated.  
Immediately after the eviction, a survey was conducted by the Nagar Daridra Basteebashir Unnayan Sangstha (NDBUS) and it showed that the eviction had demolished around 200 shops within the slum beside numerous houses. One block of the slum was completely demolished and two others partially damaged. Around 1,200 families lost their shelters, students lost their education materials, 25 SSC students lost all their books making it impossible for them to take part in the SSC examination. Ten BRAC-run pre-primary schools were also completely damaged. Now the question is: why the authorities conduct these sorts of eviction frequently? Does the government feel that these low income groups are not needed for the city?
In Bangladesh, 28 per cent of the population lives in urban areas, out of which 38 per cent lives in slums. It is projected that half of the country's population will live in urban areas by 2030. In addition to that, each year around 350,000 people migrate to Dhaka city alone in search of better livelihood. Among these, a big portion is forced to migrate as climate refugees due to river erosion. Most of the migrant population find their place in the slums. Research shows that urban poverty exceeds rural poverty mainly due to climate-induced migration-- while migration of low-income groups from rural to urban areas adds more pressure on basic services, infrastructure and environment.
The World Bank projects the population of Dhaka to be 20 million by 2020, which means 2.8 million is predicted to live in urban slums with constant threats of eviction. Millions of slum dwellers have been evicted from Dhaka without any specific plan or arrangement for resettlement in the past years. Though exact numbers are not available, it is estimated that at least 120,000 people were displaced through evictions from Dhaka's slums between 2006 and 2011. The number is increasing over time.
In India, during Delhi election, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promised to recognise the contribution of the low-income communities and therefore it started working to resettle them. By this time they started implementation of slum rehabilitation programmes, and various government departments have also started identifying areas for the project. Under the plan, the land held by slum dwellers would be distributed in a ratio of 60:40. While 60 per cent of the land would be used to build flats for slum dwellers by private builders, the rest of the land would be used for developing residential colonies. Indonesian capital Jakarta has already advanced quite far in addressing issues relating to housing and resettlement of the slums dwellers. There are many such instances in the developing world where eviction is well matched by planned rehabilitation.
Instead of evicting slum dwellers, it is highly important to take programmes to rehabilitate them. Evicting them without plans for rehabilitation complicates the problem manifold. It is high time that the government gave a serious thought to the issue.
Moahmmed Norul Alam Raju is Senior Team Leader for Technical Programme & National Lead for Urban Programming at World Vision Bangladesh and Bipasha Dutta is National Urban Specialist at World Vision Bangladesh. [email protected]