Slum dwellers and homeless beggars evacuated from their original settlements and shifted to new areas in Ahmedabad ‘no longer live below poverty line’, if their ration cards and government records are to be believed, which show belonging to the Above Poverty Line (APL) category.

Consider these: Shaligram and Jhumar Tayde are an old homeless beggar couple who live under a tree at Piplag in Ahmedabad, after they were driven out from Khodiyarnagar. But the government gave them an APL ration card.

Fatema Sheikh (85), a vagrant, homeless widow, sleeps beside a tea stall at night and begs in the day. She was shifted from Santoshnagar to Khodiyarnagar and then to Piplag. Despite being entitled for a card under the Antyodaya Ann Yojana (AAY), due to her extremely poor condition, she has an APL card.

They are not alone. Many of the 2,500 to 3,000 people relocated from Khodiyarnagar, Kankaria, Dhor Bazar, Danilimbda, Kalupur, Paldi, Gulbai Tekra, Mangal Talavdi and the Shah Alam slum areas are poorer after their re-settlement, but have been given only APL cards. The rest do not have any card.

Besides, at a time when the state government is moving towards Mobile Ration Cards for poor migrants, the slum dwellers evacuated to suit the city’s growth plans are refused ration at ration stores.

Constant shuffling denies these poor families foodgrains and other items available on ration rates. The Tayde family, for instance, makes around Rs 50 a day from begging and gets only kerosene with their APL card. Shaligram said: “My wife goes begging everyday and in the evening we manage a meal with whatever she earns. Before we were evacuated from Khodiyarnagar, we used to get ration with our BPL card. But now, with this APL card, we get only kerosene. Many a times we survive on leftovers dumped in the nearby areas.”

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