Within 24-hour tenants are homeless

SHILLONG, JUNE 15: “Overnight the government has brought us down to the street”, said a tenant who was evicted by the East Khasi hills district administration and police based on the Meghalaya high court order.

Many families residing in the G plus three buildings suddenly found themselves in the streets just within a span of 24-hour after the district administration issued notice and sealed the buildings. The tenants, who were staying in such buildings, across Shillong complained that they should have been given time to relocate themselves.

One of the aggrieved tenants said, “We received the eviction order on Thursday and the building was sealed on Friday.”

The buildings were sealed after a committee constituted by an order of the Meghalaya High Court decided to act.

Around 24 buildings were found to have violated the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority norms and deemed to be unsafe in as Shillong falls in seismic zone 5.

East Khasi hills deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal along with SP M Kharkrang personally went with security personnel and sealed some of these buildings.

Several families were evicted rendering them homeless as the district administration did not give them sufficient time to relocate themselves. An aggrieved tenant said, “We should have been given time to re-locate. How can I find a new home within 24 hours,” a tenant in one of these buildings said.

Along with residential complexes, shopping malls were also sealed. “My children are having examinations and you are sealing our shop, without giving us time,” said one of the owners to the Goyal, who was overseeing the sealing of the building.

Goyal when asked why time was not given to the tenants to re-locate, said that he was just taking the decision based on the High Court’s order. “I am just following orders,” he defended.

When reporters wanted to know why the district administration didn’t file an appeal before the High Court to at least give some time to the tenants to find an alternative location, Goyal said he cannot take such a decision.

Meanwhile, the state government is yet to come up with a tenancy law in the state, despite request from the general public as the rent is abnormally high in some pockets of the city. Moreover, owners take advances ranging from Rs. 1 to 5 lakhs before tenant is allotted a house.- By Our Reporter