Jammu, Apr 12 (PTI) The Maratha Basti shantytown near the Jammu railway station wore a deserted look on Tuesday with a majority of its dwellers, hailing from different parts of the country and some Rohingya Muslims, having left after packing their belongings.
Dozens of families that are yet to leave are also packing their belongings and are ready to leave after the district administration issued a notice, asking them to vacate the railway land immediately.
“We have been living here for several decades without any problem. The government has decided to vacate the land and we have no option but to move elsewhere in search of a shelter,” Mohan Lal, who hails from Siwan in Bihar, said.
His wife Pooja said they have been living at this place for years and were shell shocked after police pasted the notice at different places.
“We are hardly getting one square meal a day. Where will we move with our children?” she asked, pleading with the government to allow them to stay back before they make the necessary arrangements at some other place.
Lal said migrant workers from different parts of the country, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab, were living in the vast area.
The slum area is also occupied by Rohingya Muslims, who live in a different cluster.
“Three fire incidents in the last decade devastated many families and also claimed the life of a girl,” Lal said, adding that people managed to overcome those incidents but now, the government’s move to clear the land of all dwellers has left them disheartened.
Over 150 shanties, including 41 belonging to Rohingyas, were gutted in a massive blaze at the slum on June 3, 2019, while another major fire destroyed dozens of hutments in April 2021.
According to official sources, there were over 100 families of migrant labourers and 38 families of Rohingyas living on the railway land.
The notice was served in response to the issue raised by the railway authorities with the district administration, officials said, expressing hope that the land would be handed over to the railway authorities in the shortest possible time.
Facing persecution, Rohingyas fled Myanmar and many of them entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in different parts of the country, including Jammu.
According to government data, over 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population has increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.
Over 200 Rohingyas are also lodged in a holding centre in Kathua after they were found living illegally in Jammu city during a verification drive in March last year.
Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court gave six weeks to the government to identify the immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh illegally staying in the Union Territory.
“We do not know where to go with our children as we have no place of our own. We will be killed if we return to our country,” Mohammad Zakir, a Rohingya, said as his family members were busy packing their belongings.
Shamsul Alam, another Rohingya, said many of them are observing the Ramzan fast and finding it difficult to find a shelter amid the soaring temperatures. PTI TAS RC
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