SHILLONG, May 24: The settlers at Lum Survey began picking up the pieces on Friday, a day after members of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) demolished some 80 dwellings.
As they tried to salvage whatever was left of their houses, they hoped for some intervention from the authorities concerned.
The HYC members on Thursday carried out the demolition drive after the expiry of a two-week deadline the pressure group gave the East Khasi Hills district administration to remove what it claimed were illegal houses.
Labelled “illegal settlers” and “Bangladeshis”, the settlers have appealed to the Meghalaya government to bail them out of their misery.
The residents spent a sleepless night under tarpaulins and makeshift roofs with the rains adding to their discomfort.
“A mob showed up and destroyed everything from our houses to the utensils. We were not given any notice to vacate or leave,” Amina Begum said.
“Someone made some porridge and all of us ate from the containers we could recover,” she said.
She lamented that the women among the settlers were accused of running a prostitution racket. “We are daily wage labourers, not sex workers. We did not have much but we were happy,” she added.
Begum said the Lum Survey dwellers somehow managed to send their children to school by doing odd jobs. Their children’s education is now affected, she said.
“We are facing a lot of difficulties. We have small children and the elderly with us. Where will we go? They did not give us any time. They came, kicked, broke everything and left after asking us to leave. We sought time to leave but they did not listen and chased us,” another resident, Hawa Khatoon said.
Asserting they are not illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Begum said: “We are residents of India, not Bangladeshis. We have voter IDs from Assam. We tried registering as voters in Meghalaya but were not allowed to.”
She asked why residents of India are not free to work and settle anywhere in the country.
Claiming that they settled at Lum Survey long ago, grew up in the area and now have children of their own, she said most of the residents cannot afford to live anywhere else in Shillong.
Another resident, Sushil Kumar said, “They are accusing us of things we are not involved in. We are from Assam and are Indian citizens.”
He said the people have no roof over their heads, the walls of their houses are broken, there is no electricity and no help from any quarters. “None from the government or the Cantonment Board or the Defence Estate or any public representative has visited us to render any help,” he said.
“We want the government to help us stay and work,” he added.
