Squatters Face Eviction from Kathmandu Apartment

Kathmandu. A notice published in Gorkhapatra Daily has been posted on the gate of the apartment in Ichangunarayan, Nagarjun Municipality-1, Kathmandu, which was publicized to house squatters. The essence of the notices posted at the holding centers and hotels where squatters were housed is the same - vacate the holding center after Asar 19.

No one is allowed inside the Ichangunarayan apartment, which is under strict surveillance and guard. No one other than the police and employees of the Bagmati Civilization Integrated Development Committee is allowed to enter here.

Squatters taking shelter in the Ichangunarayan apartment have not received water and food for 6 days today. Inside the narrow room of the apartment, Bimala Bardewa, who lost one eye in 072, has both kidneys not working. Her bed was covered with medicines. She, who cannot walk properly, sometimes lies in bed for many days. Suffering from sugar, pressure, and heart disease, she spends the night crying.

She, who had been living in the squatter settlement of Sinamangal for years, became alone and helpless when the bulldozer ran over her place. Her son and daughter-in-law took a room elsewhere and stayed, and she was taken to a hotel in Balaju. For twenty-four hours, she was out of contact with her own daughter, Raveena. Raveena sat guarding the belongings outside the collapsed hut in Sinamangal. Meanwhile, her mother was suffering in the hotel in Balaju. After being kept in the hotel for 12 days, she was finally placed in the apartment in Ichangunarayan.

Bimala, who was bedridden due to illness, thought she would finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief. When the government posted a notice on the apartment gate, the stress started to increase again. "We have not been given food and water for five days," says Raveena, who is looking after her mother. "Such treatment is not given even to enemies. Are we not human?"

Before her house in Sinamangal was bulldozed, she used to earn a living by working in catering. Now, having to take care of her sick mother, she has neither employment nor free time. The number of people like her who cannot sleep peacefully is large.

The Red Cross had provided beds and sheets to the squatters housed in the Ichangunarayan apartment. Blankets and utensils were provided with the help of other organizations. Puja Khatri said that the remaining necessary items had to be arranged by themselves. "Our blankets and mattresses were completely soaked in water. The belongings were crushed by the bulldozer," said Puja. "My 79-year-old mother has a heart condition, and we couldn't find another room outside."

On Baishakh 12, when the state bulldozed the squatter settlements along the banks of the Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers, the squatters became homeless. About 44 families were given shelter in the Ichangunarayan apartment.

After the notice was issued to vacate the squatters taking shelter in the apartment by Asar 19, 24 families have already fled. Sick, disabled, handicapped, and children are taking shelter in the apartment.

The squatters are feeling unsafe and unprivileged after the eviction started from this apartment in Ichangunarayan, which was publicized for squatters. Despair was clearly visible on the face of 65-year-old Santoshi Sunar, who was evicted from the Gairigaun of Sinamangal. Santoshi, a single woman, used to earn a living by working as a laborer in a hut. In the apartment, she now has neither a proper bed to sleep on nor food to eat. "We are also human, how can we survive?" Her question was filled with despair.

According to Santoshi, they were initially housed and fed in a hotel. When they were brought to the apartment, all facilities were gradually withdrawn. "It's been five days, the kitchen hasn't been lit. Water has been cut off. After the filter broke, the tanker also stopped coming," she narrated her pain.

Although the government claimed to have deposited money in bank accounts as relief, Santoshi complained that the money was not enough for survival. She complained that it was difficult to find a room in the expensive city, and if found, they had to pay 15-20 thousand rupees for a single room. She said, "Where will the poor like us get the money to pay?"

Students residing in the Ichangu apartment have not been able to go to school. The victims complain that instead of providing a permanent alternative, the state is threatening some by saying, "We will put you in an old age home." The squatters, who Ratopati spoke to on Thursday, expressed their grief that the state was treating them like criminals.

There is a risk that the squatters, who were picked up from the streets, will fall into distress again. Their complaint is that they are being pressured to vacate the Ichangu apartment, claiming it will be turned into an orphanage and an old age home. They are under mental stress.

Although the government sent 25 thousand rupees per family to the squatters' accounts, Gopal Sunar said that the money would only last for a few days' meals and nothing more.

Most of the residents of this apartment in Ichangunarayan are daily wage earners. Many lament the lack of money to pay household expenses and buy medicines due to irregular income. How does the state plan to manage the squatters after removing them from the holding center? Those in responsible positions have not provided an answer.