ews quarters

After days of demolition and threats by the police, some 150 residents still remain in the quarters. Even as the police and BBMP officials are forcing them to move out on Republic Day, Maverick’s bulldozers are busy flattening the space. Post the demolishing at Ejipura EWS quarters. Pic: Julie McGuire [www.juliemcguire.com] Maverick’s representatives are reportedly giving Rs 5000 to the residents to encourage them to move out without fuss. These are people who have not found a house at all, or have not been able to pay the full advance amount for their new houses.Elizabeth, over 60 years old, lives…

A BBMP demolition drive that began on Friday January 18th at Ejipura's EWS slum quarters, near Koramangala in south Bengaluru has driven up tensions and trauma. Around 200 people protested at BBMP head office on Saturday morning. The protesters included around 25 EWS quarters residents, along with residents from slums across the city who came to pledge support, most of them women. Around 30 Dalit organisations supported the protest. The quarters are a ramshackle bunch of tin-sheds. Demolition of a building. Pic: Navya P KYasmeen, 49, with her 4-year-old son, waiting outside their house with their belongings. Pic: Navya P…

The tin sheet shacks in Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quarters are lined up so close to each other, that it is not easy to tell one house from the next. Outside the shacks, little girls and boys are seen carrying small pots of water which they have collected from somewhere. In one of the houses stays Aisha (name changed), with her husband, four children, and parents-in-law. Like most families here, this family of eight also does not get water to their house. Aisha, 38, spends a lot of her time standing in queue in front of public taps. Children…

The fate of the long-delayed housing project at Ejipura’s Economically Weaker Section (EWS) colony hangs on an affidavit filed by BBMP Commissioner Shankarlinge Gowda on July 24th. The High Court had instructed BBMP on July 18th to submit the affidavit on its plan of action over the reconstruction of 1512 houses. BBMP Commissioner Shankar Linge Gowda coming out of the court after the hearing. Pic: Sankar C G The order came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by 12 original allottees of quarters at the EWS colony, who are no longer living there. They were residents of the previous…