By Zoya Hussain & Marhaba Hilali
Salma, a mother of two, stood beside what was once her home in Ahmedabad’s Chandola Lake area, holding a plastic bag of medicines her children depend on.
“We have no clean place to sleep — forget clean water,” she said. Her children have developed diarrhea, fever, and have stopped attending school. In this heat, I used to bathe two or three times a day, but I haven’t been able to bathe for seven days now.”
On 29 April and again on 20 May 2025, officials reported that over 10,000 temporary and permanent homes were demolished by the Ahmedabad authorities as part of one of the largest eviction drives in recent Indian memory.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, nearly 1,000 residents of Chandola were rounded up the very next day, labeled as “illegal Bangladeshis,” and forced to walk 6 kilometers to Lal Darwaza police station under the scorching April sun.
With temperatures soaring, they were made to march like criminals, hands raised, some without even a chance to wear slippers.
This story was originally published in thequint.com. Read the full story here.
