Tension prevails at YSR ColonyOur

Vijayawada: Tension prevailed at YSR Colony in Jakkampudi village on the outskirts of Vijayawada on Friday as the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation officials forcibly evicted nearly 200 families from their homes in the colony.

These residents have been living at YSR Colony since February 2016.

The corporation has allotted the houses in February after fire broke out in the slum located near Rajiv Gandhi wholesale vegetable market.

The displaced families reminded that the corporation officials had distributed 392 slips containing the flat number and door number of homes at YSR Colony.

They said that the corporation also arranged tractors to shift them to YSR Colony from the slum in February 2016 and instructed them to pay
Rs 66,000 for each house at YSR Colony.

Since then, the families had been living at YSR Colony in the blocks allotted by the officials. Most of them were allocated third and fourth floors. The trouble began on Friday when unexpectedly some municipal officials came and asked them to vacate the houses immediately as they were ineligible for the allotment of houses. The shocked residents could not understand the reason.

The officials are also not giving clear reason why they are evicting them from their homes.
The officials began verification of Aadhaar cards, ration cards, door numbers of the old houses where they lived in the slum near vegetable market and other proofs.

A senior official said the corporation had allotted the houses to the fire accident victims on a temporary basis and the same has been informed to the displaced families in February 2016. The officials suspect that ineligible families.

too, joined the fire accident victims to claim the houses at YSR Colony.
The market value of house is between Rs 2 to Rs 3 lakh. The government is collecting only Rs 66,000 for each house.

The displaced families are saying that the corporation officials never told them that it was a temporary shelter for them.

After verification of Aadhaar cards and ration cards, the officials have evicted nearly 200 families and locked the doors.

The officials disconnected the power supply to these homes. Only 60 families were given permission for staying in the houses.

The verification process will continue on Saturday also.
Worried families stood outside their homes with belongings and little children till evening. Most of these families are daily wage labourers and stayed near Rajiv Gandhi vegetable market for nearly
30 years.

Due to fire accident, they were forced to vacate
their homes and shifted to
YSR Colony.

S Ravi a resident of block No. 209 said he was forced to vacate the house in spite of having ration card and Aadhaar card. I have shown both the cards, but they were not looking at the proofs and evicted me from the home,” he added.

Another resident A Rambabu said that he is ready to pay Rs 66,000 to own a house at YSR colony. He alleged injustice was meted out to nearly 200 families by the corporation. He said the corporation officials have cheated them twice by asking them to vacate from the slum for the first time and now from
YSR Colony.

Like Rambabu other residents S Balaji and Sk Subhani, too, asked the same question. The corporation officials are claiming that they had given temporary shelter to the fire accident victims.

Dozens of police, including women police, are helping the corporation staff to forcibly vacate the houses and dump the belongings out of their homes.

The VMC officials decided to strictly continue verification process to filter more families and allot houses to the eligible families.