The District Megistrate Tina Dabi (left) and the Pakistani Hindu migrant families (right), Image: Twitter
Videos and pictures of migrant Hindu families crying for help from the Jaisalmer administration in the scorching heat are making rounds on social media platforms. These are Pakistani Hindu families who have migrated to India. However, the district administration headed by in-famous IAS officer Tina Dabi allegedly ordered the eviction drive.
As many as 28 shelters have been razed to rubble in Jaisalmer on May 16. This is the second consecutive demolition drive by the state administration within two months in Rajasthan.
This time the migrants living in the Amarsagar gram panchayat area of Jaisalmer have faced the heat. District magistrate Tina Dabi told the media that the Amarsagar sarpanch had been complaining to the administration about “encroachments” by Hindu migrants.
She said the land belonged to the government’s urban improvement trust (UIT), and that there would be more drives in the near future to remove several older “encroachments”. Justifying the move she added, the government has not issued any guidelines regarding the rehabilitation of the Pakistani migrants and that is why such drives will be organised by the administration in the future as well.
She stated that prior notices were also served to the refugees to vacate the land but they refuse to budge. Till now 28 encroachments have been removed.
The videos of the demolition drives showing unconscious women lying on the ground are getting viral. As per the media reports, as many as three women have been hospitalised since the demolition drive initiated in the area. These women have been identified as Devi Mayee, Hastu Devi and Mapti Devi.
The media quoted a tribal man, Kishanraj Bheel saying, the administration sent them a notice to vacate the place on May 15 and the next morning they came with bulldozers to raze their shelters.
A Non-government Organisation, Nimmetakam has been working on the relocation of these migrants and after the recent demolition drive, they hit the ground and helped the families with the rehabilitation.
One of the volunteers of the organisation, Cheidam Sharma told Organiser on May 17 that, more than 100 families were left homeless. Till the time of conversation, no help was provided from the administration or the state government.
He said, these families, all Hindus migrated from Pakistan less than a year ago. They were living in the slum areas, having built small shanties for them. At the time of the demolition, a woman delivered a baby. The administration did not stop even after that, they left the place deserted.
He added, all these people have been working as labourers in the nearby construction sites. The stone mafia has given a complaint to the collector on the orders of whom this demolition drive was conducted.
Sharma added, “The administration did not leave the temple as well, they set it on fire”.
One of the victims, Baghu who moved to Rajasthan almost three months ago, his house was demolished by the administration. Another victim Teja moved to the place almost 4 years ago. Mauju Ram told the police attacked them with lathis and they did not spare the women as well. Two of the women were severely injured in the lathi charge.
He added, the officials set ablaze a temple in the colony.
In the first week of May Organiser reported about the similar demolition drive being organised in the Jodhpur district, leaving as many as 200 families homeless. In the demolition drive organised by the district administration on April 24, as many as 70 houses were demolished. The claims were similar in that the migrants have illegally encroached on the land.
Even after the protests the structures were demolished and the families were left on barren lands in scorching heat. A video from the site after the demolition drive was shared on Twitter, where women were seen fainting due to lack of water. Notably, during the demolition, the authorities also break water tanks, made out of concrete to store water in the area.
The Pakistani Hindus, who are in the minority in Pakistan often migrate to India from the border region of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Both states have had refugees coming from the other side of the border for years. After moving to our side, these families had to apply for citizenship.
Well, how does it work on the ground, since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, they brought the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the work has become easier. All those families who moved to India after December 31, 2014, were provided citizenship of India.
And those who came later will be provided citizenship after 6 years of staying in India. Those who do not have citizenship have Long Term Visas (LTV) that allow them to stay in the country for a longer period.
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