The residents of Kallyanpur slums have alleged that they were unaware of the eviction drive on Thursday as their leaders, mostly linked to the ruling party, had not informed them about it beforehand.
Although the eviction stopped later following a High Court order, they claimed that the drive was conducted in a seemingly planned manner – as their leaders had been instructed by the police and the local Awami League lawmaker on Tuesday to leave the slums within two days.
Several hundred people of Block 7 losing all their belongings passed the night under the open sky amid cold. Some houses of blocks 3 and 4 were also demolished.
Meanwhile, a devastating fire that broke out at Block 8 of the slum yesterday burned down around 70 shanties, amid fear and rumour among the residents that a fresh eviction drive could be carried out any time.
Many residents left the area and went to other nearby slums, but as of last night there were dozens of families who intended to rebuild their shanties at the slum.
The affected residents alleged that the red bandana-wearing supporters of local lawmaker Aslamul Haque Aslam had set fire to the shanties to evict them from the land.
On Thursday too, some people wearing red bandana had accompanied the eviction team, which was led by a magistrate, in the presence of high officials of the Housing and Building Research Institute under the Housing and Public Works Ministry.
The residents said that they had no idea about the legal proceedings centring the eviction drive as their leaders used to look after these issues. They are local Jubo League leader Abul Kalam Azad, who is now in jail, and his associates.
Locals said that the ministry officials had informed the leaders about the eviction drive about a week ago, but the residents were kept in the dark. When they enquired Azad’s wife Nazma Begum and his brother Kamal about their next step, they were asked not to leave their houses.
A resident of the slum, Al Amin said that they had been following their leaders without any question. “We took to the streets whenever they asked us to,” he said, adding that this time they were told that the drive would not happen.
But they were surprised to learn that their so-called leaders – Azahar, Iskander, Nur Islam, Firoz Kamal, Kulsum and several others – had left their houses with belongings a day before the eviction drive. The news spread quickly among other residents and they got scared.
Another resident Mohammad Siddique said: “When we contacted the leaders over the phone, they said that no one should leave the slum as it would not bring good results.”
Several residents alleged that these five leaders had been detained by the police on Tuesday and asked to leave the slum before the eviction drive began.
The 11 slums in Kallyanpur area cover some 20 hectares of land and are home to around 22,000 people. Electricity and water supplies have remained disconnected at the slum since Wednesday.
An official of the Housing and Building Research Institute said that they had filed an appeal with the High Court against the three-month stay order and would take further step after getting the court’s order on the matter.
Locals alleged that the High Court had ordered the government in 2007 to not conduct any drives until a 2003 ruling was settled. The authorities conducted the drive against the court order and without giving any formal notices. Executive Magistrate Nur Alam, who led the drive, claimed that they had duly completed all legal procedures before going into action.
Fire guts 70 houses
The fire that broke out at Block 8 of the Kallyanpur slum around 9:55am originated from the shanty of one Ayesha Begum.
“A group of people wearing red bandana entered my house in the morning. When I asked them about their identities, they pushed me back and set my house on fire,” she said.
When the slum residents were trying to douse the fire, some miscreants set fire to three more houses in Block 10.
On information, two units of Mirpur Fire Service reached the area around 11:15am and put out the fire around 12:15pm.
Fire Service Deputy Director Arif Hossain said the units were obstructed near Bangla College by some people identifying themselves as slum residents, otherwise they would have reached the slum much earlier.
Locals refuted the allegation and alleged that the supporters of the local lawmaker had barred the fire fighting units from entering the spot. “They want to evict us from the area by any means,” an elderly woman said seeking anonymity.