Staff Reporter :The High Court has stayed eviction of a slum ‘Porabosti’ at Kalyanpur in the city for three months. The HC order came soon after a violent clash of the slum dwellers with police and the National Housing Authority erupted during an eviction drive on Thursday morning.The bench passed the order following a writ petition filed by the Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK). Dr Kamal Hossain stood for the petitioner.Apart from it, the HC bench also ordered the authorities concerned not to harass or arrest any slum dweller without any specific allegation.Sarah Hossain, an ASK lawyer, said that the High Court issued a restriction on the eviction of Kalyanpur slum 10 years ago. The government ignored the order and carried out the drive in the slum that houses about 40,000 low-income families, she said. Earlier, a team of the National Housing Authority under the Housing and Public Works Ministry went to the ‘Porabosti’ with police and magistrate to conduct the eviction drive. The drive turned violent when the Ministry officials and the police started ejecting around 10:00 am.Witnesses said that the slum dwellers attacked the police and the Ministry officials. The slum dwellers obstructed them by throwing brickbats. Police brought the situation under control by charging baton and firing rubber bullets. Later, another spell of clash started at about 12:30 pm over the same issue.The slum was built on a piece of land owned by Housing and Building Research Institute. In the beginning of the drive, police brought down a tin-shed kitchen market on the land that housed around 350 shops. Slum dwellers said that the eviction was being conducted without any prior notice, and rehabilitation programme. The authorities, however, said they issued repeated eviction notices. Locals demand proper rehabilitation before eviction.Md Mamun, who has been living in the slum for the past 27 years, said, “The government promised us of no eviction without rehabilitation. But the eviction drive conducted without any prior notice. We had nothing to do to forge resistance.”Advocate Shahjahan Kibria, counsel of the authorities of a mosque situated on the area, said that a metropolitan Session Court on Wednesday issued a stay order asking the authorities not to conduct eviction drive for next two months. The drive was conducted ignoring the order, he said.Nur Alam, an Executive Magistrate of the Ministry, said that the government issued repeated notices beforehand. “We went there to free this land from illegal occupation.”Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain, OC of Mirpur Model Police Station, said that the housing authority officials went to the Kalyanpur slum with police to evict it as per the prior notice. “Officials gave a two-hour deadline to the dwellers to empty the shanties which enraged the locals. Meanwhile, a group of them armed with sticks started to demonstrate triggering the clash,” said the OC.Jamiruddin, an architect of the Public Works Department, said, “There are about 50 acres of land in this area. About 15 acres are under illegal occupation. We started the eviction drive to free this land.”
