ANGUISHED: A slum-dweller showing the notice issued by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board on Friday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: They live in small but "pucca" houses; most have electricity and water connections. Their neighbourhood has paved roads and they have streetlights too.

But on Friday morning, close to 1,500 families in Ragigudda slum near Jayanagar 9th block were surprised to be served notices by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB) to pay deposits for "allotment of homes" in a housing development project to come up on Koodlu village in Anekal taluk about 30 km away.

The slum-dwellers, predominantly Tamil and Telugu speaking, said they were living there for more than 30 years and were the first occupants. Planned housing developments began coming up around them much later. Gawrima (60) said, "We came here when it was just open, barren land and struggled over the years to get civic facilities from the authorities. Our children go to a government school here and we go to a hospital nearby. Now to be told we have to go far away is disheartening."

Surprisingly, most of them are unable to comprehend what the slum clearance board wants. The notice states they have to pay Rs. 15,000 as deposit and Rs. 100 as registration fee for getting houses allotted; they are given two weeks to pay up. If they fail to pay, they will not get a new home.

It was also explained that the notice follows an interim order of the Karnataka High Court to provide a rehabilitation package for the slum-dwellers. The High Court acted on a public interest litigation filed by some residents of areas around the slum. The residents complained petty thefts were increasing in the area.

The slum clearance board says it is developing a housing project on 20 acres of land at Koodlu under the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana which is to rehabilitate families living in declared slums. The slum in Ragigudda comes under this category, and it was notified in 2005.

A month ago, the board attempted to serve notices, but the slum-dwellers refused to accept them. Most women living here work as domestic help and the men are in trades like masonry and carpentry. Some sell vegetables and others are small-time vendors. None have a fixed income and raising Rs. 15,000 at short notice is almost impossible they say.

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