{"id":29926,"date":"2014-05-21T23:59:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T03:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29926"},"modified":"2014-05-21T23:59:06","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T03:59:06","slug":"narahenpita-residents-will-take-urban-development-authority-to-court-again-for-conducting-illegalforced-evictions-of-people-from-their-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29926","title":{"rendered":"Narahenpita Residents Will Take Urban Development Authority to Court Again for Conducting Illegal,Forced Evictions of People From Their Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Zahrah Imtiaz<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the battle between the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the residents of informal urban settlements continue, Narahenpita Nivasa Himikam Surakime Sangvidanaya (NNHSS) Convenor, Sunil Watagala, said that they plan to take the UDA to Court once again for conducting illegal and forced evictions of people from their homes.<\/p>\n

When those of the NNHSS and Watagala lodged a complaint against the UDA at the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC), at the case hearing on 9 May, officials of the UDA had openly declared that they did not force anyone to leave their homes and neither did they want to seize their lands. The settlements under discussion are that of 188 Watte, Bakery Watte and Kolombage Watte.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thereafter, at a media briefing held on 13 May, Watagala said that when the UDA made such a statement, they were admitting to the fact that they were conducting forced evictions on people illegally. Watagala further questioned as to how so many people from the three Wattes moved to the government housing schemes of Sahaspura, Wanatamulla and MihinduSenpura, Dematagoda, if they were not asked to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have video footage of an Army officer from the UDA insulting the residents and stating that they did not care much for the rulings of the HRC. This is against the law as Section 21 of the HRC Act clearly states that it is illegal to condemn the rulings of the HRC. Upul Jasuriya and a few others will be going to Supreme Court over this too,\u201d Watagala said.<\/p>\n

A total of 56 families resided at Bakery Watte (on Nawala Road) but only 13 remain, at 188 Watte (Cotta Road) 54 families were present but only five families remain now and at Kolombage Watte (5th Lane) 32 families are fighting eviction. <\/p>\n

These families say that they are prepared to leave their land if the UDA provides them with a fair deal. The struggle between the UDA and these informal urban settlements, commonly known as slums, has always been ongoing and this scenario is not new to Sri Lanka. Around the world, 1.4 billion people live in slums and it is predicted that with the current growth in cities, 500 million more people will live in slums by 2020 (source: http:\/\/www.homeless-international.org\/). The challenge however is to deal with this development issue with a human perspective.<\/p>\n

An article titled \u2018The re-housing option for Colombo\u2019s poor\u2019 published on www.defence.lk by University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Department of Geography, Professor Krishan Deheragoda, highlights the goals of the UDA and what it wants to achieve with the development of urban shelters. The following is an extract from the article:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sustainable Townships Programme (STP) is based on a series of new pro-poor shelter strategies that are compatible with market economic principles within an overall urban and shelter development context. These new concepts are: voluntary relocation instead of forced eviction; relocation instead of onsite upgrading; bottom up instead of top down approach; market based instead of provider and welfare approach; self-financing instead of State funding; enabling the urban poor instead of comforting; full ownership instead of conditional tenureship and household centred instead of chief occupant centered (Right to the new flat is given collectively to all the members living in the particular dwelling unit.<\/p>\n

These households are offered modern flats in high-rise apartments constructed in fully developed compact townships in lieu of the land on which they lived. By adopting vertical densification strategies over 60% of the lands currently under the urban sector shelters (USS), can be released to the urban real estate development market to enable financing of the re-housing process of STP. Once they are moved into the new flats as a community, the settlement they have been living is liberated and disposed for the private sector based housing and\/or urban development projects, and thereby generate capital to finance the re-housing programme, making the whole process a fully self-financing and market based one.\u201d<\/em> (emphasis by the writer)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goals of the UDA are quite grand but in reality it falls short of its lofty goals. Those who have been asked to evacuate their lands say that there is no one voluntarily leaving their homes. The new flats are in a deplorable state and that the whole affair is an injustice to the people.<\/p>\n

E. Karunawathi who has lived all her life at Bakery Watte said, \u201cThey are simply going to take all the poor people in the city and house them like chicken in a coop. We are not animals to be treated like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UDA has offered the residents of these low housing schemes flats at the Sahaspura (Wanatamulla) or at the MihinduSenpura (Dematagoda) apartment complexes. The residents however state that these flats which are 350-380 square feet in total size, are worse than the houses in which they reside at present.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have five children, the house they propose to give is 350-380sq feet, how can we all live there? The toilet is also too small, we have to stand over the commode to bathe,\u201d said a resident of Bakery Watte. <\/p>\n

Another who visited the flats said, \u201cOne room was about 8×8 square feet and another was 9×10 square feet. It was a two bedroom flat with a kitchen, a toilet and living room. How can a family with children live there? The houses we currently live in are more spacious and we are more comfortable here, why would we want to move?\u201d<\/p>\n

Housing alone is not sufficient. Residents said that they came to live in these areas because it is close to their places of work and at times their livelihoods depend on where they live.
\nV. Shanthi, who lives at one of the houses in Bakery Watte with her three children and husband, said that she cannot leave because both she and her husband work close by.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I work here, we cannot move. What will we do in Wanatamulla? We are doing well here. If we leave we will have no income to survive on. Many of those who moved away are now selling what they own just to survive. We cannot do that, people need jobs as well as a place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out of the 13 families who still remain at Bakery Watte, six are prepared to leave but the UDA had told them that they were not qualified for flats at any of the apartment complexes. They were asked to move to temporary housing in tents and wooden huts at Thotalanga. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been asked to go to Thotalanga, Peliyagoda. Why should we go live in tents when we have good houses here?\u201d asked M.S. Priyangika, a resident who does not qualify for permanent housing.
\nPriyangika added that the flats are also being allocated in an arbitrary manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven those who were here for less than six months have been given new flats. Even those with 2-3 houses here were given new flats. When we visited the UDA to solve our issues, they scolded us in a derogatory manner and the official there called us undesirables who did not deserve any better. We are simply asking for fair compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the case of Bakery Watte, individuals residing there do not own deeds for their houses, but there is a common deed for the land in which they have built their houses. The land is owned by the family of S.A. Priyantha, who is also a resident there. The land which was in the name of his mother was not transferred to his name as his mother suddenly passed away and none of the legal matters concerned with the land had been taken care of. Bakery Watte has a total of 37 perches.<\/p>\n

To those who wish to move or are forced to move, moving is not cheap. An initial payment of Rs 50,000 needs to be made to receive a flat at one of the apartment complexes. Another Rs 50,000 is required after three months to confirm ownership. Registration for electricity and water costs Rs 5,000 each in addition to all other payments. Once these payments are made, the house owner is charged a rent of Rs 3,960 per month for twenty years, after which the flat will be legally transferred to the house owner. <\/p>\n

With the case of the residents at Kolombage Watte, it was the government which had originally settled the people there four years ago and they were given two perches of land each to build their houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at another location initially and when the UDA wanted to expand the roads in our area, they moved us from there and gave us land at 5th lane (Kolombage Watte). At the time of resettlement they said that this would be permanent. They even asked us to build our houses with concrete slabs and solid foundations\u201d, said S. Prasadi from Kolombage Watte<\/p>\n

The residents of KolombageWatte were given two perches each to build their houses and to settle down.
\n\u201cWe have taken loans and built our houses well and we have been living here for the past four years now and are settled. The government gave us tenant cards for the lands and it has messages from the President and Dinesh Gunawardene,\u201d said S. Prasadi.<\/p>\n

Prasadi added that when the residents of Kolombage Watte protested against their removal, officials of the UDA asked them to either move to Wanatamulla or to Thotalanga. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have good houses, why would we want to live in shanties and tents?\u201d asked Prasadi.<\/p>\n

Ven. Ulapane Sumangala Thera, speaking on behalf of all those facing forced evictions, said, \u201cWhen the UDA officials openly declared to the HRC that they never wanted to acquire the lands of the 188 Watte, Kolombage Watte and Bakery Watte, they were openly lying to all. They have come to the Wattes and openly threatened people to leave and we have the incident on video. The UDA can\u2019t function outside the law. They are acting like thugs, using their power inappropriately to squash the innocent and poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thera added that though they too wanted to have a beautiful city and country, it cannot be done at the expense of the lives of the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll citizens of this country have a right to live with dignity, but the UDA is trying to take away that right from them,\u201d said the Thera.<\/p>\n

The Thera who was addressing the media briefing held on 13 May stated that all the problems arose because the UDA was trying to evict people outside the due procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a certain way of doing things. You have the Ministry for Housing to build houses and the Ministry for Lands to seize lands for government projects. But the UDA has taken over the functions of all these ministries and as a result we have forced evictions and low quality housing been given to people to live in. I would also like to highlight that there is no free house or compensation given to these people. These new houses are so bad they will only last five years and they tell people that after 20 years the house would be legally theirs, I do not think it would last so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watagala in the meantime displayed an advertisement published in the Sunday Observer on 5 January 2014. The advertisement asked for investors to invest in 117 perches of prime land owned by the UDA for mixed development projects under 55-90 year leases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land was the one adjacent to Bakery Watte. This land too had people living in them, but they have all been moved to the Wanatamulla flats. Soon Bakery Watte too will be advertised thus and the people
\n here will be displaced,\u201d stated Watagala.<\/p>\n

COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Zahrah Imtiaz As the battle between the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the residents of informal urban settlements continue, Narahenpita Nivasa Himikam Surakime Sangvidanaya (NNHSS) Convenor, Sunil Watagala, said that they plan to take the UDA to Court once again for conducting illegal and forced evictions of people from their homes. When those of …<\/p>\n

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