Ahmedabad: Around 18 months after the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) carried out a demolition drive at Chandola Lake and announced housing for the affected residents, families evicted from the area are still waiting for homes. Protesting the delay, a group of affected residents, led by former Leader of Opposition in AMC Shehzad Khan Pathan, demonstrated outside the Sabarmati Riverfront House on Thursday.The protesters arrived carrying household belongings, including mattresses, and warned that they would move into the Sabarmati Riverfront House if the AMC failed to allot them houses immediately.Pathan said around 2,000 affected families had applied to AMC for housing and deposited Rs 7,500 per housing unit. He said the civic body had completed verification of around 800 families who possessed two identity documents as required under its policy, but housing had not yet been allotted to them.“It has been 18 months; still the affected Indian families of Chandola Lake have not been allotted houses. A proposal regarding this was approved in standing committee,” Pathan said.He added that the affected families were currently living in rented accommodation. The allotment process for families having only one identity document also remained stalled, he added.“Despite having residential proof prior to the year 2010, houses have not yet been allotted to them,” Pathan said.He warned that if the civic body did not take an immediate decision, the affected families would be forced to return to the Chandola Lake land and live there again.
