Mazdoor Awas Sangharsh Samiti, Khori Gaon on Sunday announced that a six-member Samiti will embark on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar starting from Monday, July 12 to protest against the impending demolition of a colony at Khori village in the Aravalli area. The Samiti has been demanding that the state must provide rehabilitation to the residents before their homes in the area are demolished.
Mohammed Salim, one of the six-member Samiti, explained that the decision to initiate a hunger strike was based on the failure of the state government and district administration to begin the rehabilitation process of the residents of the village, The Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, the Samiti has accused former BJP MP who currently is a Congress leader, Udit Raj of causing a divide in the movement in the village.
In this context, Salim said that ‘Udit Raj has been shifting political gears from BJP to Congress and has been engaging in lousy politics on the issue of the difficulties that residents of Khori gaon are undergoing. But this is is not where the issue ends. A week ago, Udit Raj sent two of his co-workers, Sanjay Rai and Meenu Verma to Khori gaon. These people who had not been to Khori gaon prior to this are now trying to incite communal riots here,’ Workers Unity reported.
Both of them have been accused of inciting mobs leading to attacks on several members of the Samiti including Mohammad Salim, Govada Prasad, and the petitioner in the SC Sareena Sarkar. A complaint has been filed at the Surajkund police station in this regard by Prasad. Meenu Verma has also been accused of trying to extort money from Phula Devi and when she refused the former hounded her with the help of her supporters.
The Samiti members have said that since the day Meenu Verma came to Khori gaon, she has been trying to break the Samiti apart and get its members attacked by disseminating propaganda against them.
Furthermore, the Samiti has said that Udit Raj who gave the slogan of saving the houses has now turned this into a political playground. How can someone who is calling for the demolition of the home of one of the residents in this village, work to save this village? Workers Unity reported.
The Khori gaon area has been barricaded from all sides in order to curtail movement and organization, the residents have complained. The supply of electricity and water has also been cut off by the municipal corporation authorities in order to pressurize the residents into vacating the gaon.
Calling it an encroachment of the Aravalli forest lands, on June 7, 2021, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Faridabad Municipal Corporation (FMC) to evict the residents of the Khori village Basti without outlining any plan for their rehabilitation.
