Ahmedabad: The Morbi Municipal Corporation has decided to withdraw its demolition order for the slum situated on Panchasar Road after 115 residents approached the Gujarat high court, complaining that the civic body was seeking to remove them without providing alternative accommodation.The petition was filed by the slum-dwellers, claiming that they have been residing in the area for decades, and their existence on the land was acknowledged by the govt during the time of the Machchhu floods in 1979. They were requesting the govt to regularise their establishment since then. During a road-widening drive by the municipality between 2020 and 2023, the slum-dwellers of Panchasar Road cooperated by removing the portions of their structures falling within the road line. After a couple of notices, the junior town planner on March 17 issued orders under the provisions of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation (GPMC) Act, directing them to remove their constructions in seven days and threatened demolition after March 24. The authority refused to entertain any reply to this order. The petitioners moved the HC, alleging that the civic body’s decision was against the principle of natural justice, as they were not heard. Moreover, the civic body is seeking to remove them without providing any alternative accommodation, as there are various residential schemes floated by the state govt and the Centre for providing shelter for the economically backward class people, who are sought to be removed from their place of occupation. Before the HC, the Morbi municipal commissioner stated that the demolition orders would be withdrawn and sought permission to pass a detailed and reasoned order on the slum dwellers’ representation for alternate accommodation on the basis of documents they placed showing their existence on the land for decades.
