"Let Bulldozers Run Over Us...": Haryana Villagers As Demolition Fear Looms

Oppu Roy, 24, a resident of Khori village in Haryana says, "We will not leave from here, let the bull dozers arrive, let them run on us but we will not move. we will put our jhuggis here and continue living here". Meena Mishra, another resident, says, "If our homes are demolished, we will die here, we will not go from here. we will not leave this land. we will die here only with our entire family".

The Supreme Court on June 7 ordered the demolition of "illegal structures" in Faridabad's Khori village, saying they were "encroaching" on the Aravali forest area. The Municipal Corporation says it will abide by this order, reiterating these structures are on a notified forest land.

Surendra Kumar, who runs a small kite shop in the village says, "Neither will my mother leave, nor my sister, nor my children, nor me and we are ready to get buried here but we will not leave this place".

But for more than 50,000 here, life has come to a standstill amid the pandemic with fear of losing their homes. Now, they say, their water and electricity supplies have been cut off. Many like Sheetal, a resident, walk four kilometre every day to get a pot of water in the scorching heat.

"Because tankers are not allowed. there is no water, no light. where do we go? said Sheetal.

Saleem Ansari, 34, gave up everything in his village to come to the city in the hopes of earning better to support his family of eight. But, because of the pandemic, he is barely able to make ends meet. His wife is adamant, they will not leave their plot, come what may. "Whether we are cut or killed, we will stay here. Let the government allot us another space to where we can move, otherwise we will die here with our kids," she said.

The young living in Khori village who should be focusing on their studies now live in an environment of fear after an increased police deployment in the area. Abhishek, a student, says, "Earlier this week, at least 3,000 police personnel carried out a flag march."

Ramya (name changed) wonders how she will achieve her dreams if her house is demolished? She says "I want to become a soldier. now if our houses are demolished then where will we go? How will the poor survive?"

With each passing day, there is a growing uncertainty in Khori, and people are angry with the administration for not responding to their requests. Rekha, another resident, says, "Aren't these hotels, farmhouses in the same area not illegal? Why are they not being demolished? Because we are poor, we can easily be picked and thrown away. We are ready to come under the bulldozer and take our last breath, but we will not move an inch"

The ongoing pandemic has already left countless people jobless and homeless. The impending demolition of Khori will only mean displacing thousands more with no rehabilitation plan, making it a humanitarian crisis.

Ishita Chatterjee, who has been studying Khori settlement since 2017 and is also a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne shares, "Even before the demolition of the houses, residents are being treated inhumanly. Already 2,000 houses have been destroyed in the last two demolitions. access to water and electricity has been disrupted. There's a heavy police presence in and around the village who have been threatening to arrest them for peacefully protesting and imposed section 144 - these are all human rights violations"

The people of the village insist they will not move away. But with each passing day, the uncertainty increases. Not just that, in the scorching summer heat they say life has come to a halt with their water and power supply cut off.