- Over 43,000 homes were demolished and about 21 people were evicted every hour between March 2020 and July 2021 according to HLRN report.
- “At a time when people were ordered to stay at home, authorities resorted to unlawful demolitions,” the report read.
- Nearly 16 million people are at risk of being evicted, including approximately 2 million people whose claims to forest land have been rejected by the courts.
Al Jazeera writes:
“More than 43,000 homes demolished and about 21 people evicted every hour between March 2020 and July 2021, says HLRN.
Housing rights campaigners are warning that more than 250,000 people were evicted across India during the coronavirus pandemic and millions more are at risk of being uprooted as authorities eye projects for faster economic growth.
Between March 2020 and July 2021, authorities demolished more than 43,000 homes and evicted about 21 people every hour, according to New Delhi-based advocacy group, the Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN).
In nearly all cases, officials did not follow due process, including giving sufficient notice, and a majority of those evicted did not receive compensation from the government, it said in a report (PDF) published on Thursday.
“During this lethal pandemic – when people are struggling greatly to survive – acts of eviction and demolition of housing have contributed to a grave human rights and humanitarian crisis,” the organisation said in a press release.
There is no official data on evictions in India.
“At a time when people were ordered to stay at home, authorities resorted to unlawful demolitions, probably taking advantage of curfew-like conditions when movement of people and access to remedy, including to courts, was limited,” the report read…”
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