The Vadodara Municipal Corporation has turned down the demand for re-allocation of houses provided to the urban poor from Kamatipura area of the city as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. About 450 families have been given notice to vacate their houses from Kamatipura and Harijanwas slums in Fatehgunj area and move to Kishanwadi,where they have been allotted new houses. But many of these families now say they do not want to move to Kishanwadi,saying they will not feel safe there since the place was affected suring the 2002 riots. When slum-dwellers led by a local outfit,All India Quami Mahaz (AIQM),approached the VMC officials in this regard,they were told that notices were served as part of the procedure and that they should not complain since it was being done in the most transparent manner. But members of the AIQM claimed Muslims and Dalits have lived together peacefully in Fatehgunj area for long and that Kishanwadi would be unsafe for them. About 128 houses were destroyed in Kishanwadi during 2002 riots. Also,our livelihoods and education of our children will be directly affected if we are shifted, said Yusuf Shaikh,president of the AIQM,in a memorandum to the Vadodara collector. Deputy Municipal Commissioner C M Makwana,however,said the VMC would press ahead with its relocation plans. It is inappropriate to raise this issue at this moment. Right from the beginning,the slum-dwellers were kept informed about VMCs plans,which we are executing as part of Central governments JNNURM project of providing urban poor with proper housing. If they are saying they will have to live in the areas where they will not feel safe,we can only say the houses are allotted through a draw system and not by any VMC official and so there should not be any issues.
