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Attempt to evict 800 poor families in Colombo
Editor on 14 July, 2008 14:43:43 | 871 times read
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The Defence Ministry has issued eviction orders to 800 families in Glain Place, Slave Island, claiming that their land belongs to the Defence Ministry. Glanny Place, which is a cross road in the Chiththappalam A Gardiner Mawatha, houses nearly 1,500 people of 800 Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim families who have been residing in the area for nearly 50 years. They have been paying the state taxes, water and electricity bills and have even been included in the voters list. In addition, a minister of the current regime has laid the foundation stone for a project to provide electricity to the area. Soon after coming into power, the present government has even obtained their signatures in agreement to evacuate the area, promising to grant them permanent settlements in return. An attempt to evict these residents without providing them resettlement was disrupted after a massive protest, even obstructing the train tracks in Slave Island. Several persons who claimed themselves to be officials of the Defence Ministry had visited the area on July 11th and informed its residents to shift to temporary wood settlements in the Keerakotuwa area in Wattala till permanent houses are built for them. Noting that they have illegally settled down in a land that belongs to the war department of the Defence Ministry, these officials have ordered them to evict within a week. Speaking to media, a resident of Glanny Place said that they would not shift to the proposed wood settlements in Keerakotuwa, which are only about 10 x 10 feet in size. He added that they would evict their present homes only if they are offered permanent settlements as initially promised. UNP parliamentarian, Ravi Karunanayake and several others who visited the area today (July 14th) to look into the matter, informed the residents that the Defence Ministry does not have the power to evict them as it required a court order to do so. The parliamentarian added that he would not allow an unlawful eviction to take place. On inquiring MP Karunanayake on the matter, we learns that neither the Defence Ministry nor the government had the power to evict these residents in such a manner and charged that the government was attempting to portray Colombo as a city sans slums to the SAARC summit. The MP further added that the UNP would not allow anyone; especially not a foreign citizen to forcefully evict people from their homes without legal authorization.
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