Slum dwellers in Dehradun threaten protest against demolition drive

Demanding cancellation of notices against them, hundreds of slum dwellers on Sunday threatened to take to the streets and fight the authorities who are planning to demolish their homes on Rispana and Bindal rivers. They said that they will also reach the DMC office on Monday and submit a petition. “We spent all our savings to build these tin sheds for our families and we have been living here for past eight years. For years we were promised that we will get ownership of our land but now they are saying that our homes will be razed,” said Nasir Ahmed, a daily wage labourer who lives in Nai Basti. Till now, the civic body has issued over 1,600 notices to the slum dwellers. While, former Congress MLA from Rajpur Road Rajkumar said that they won’t let a single house to be demolished, the administration said that they are just following the court’s order.