Thousands of families scrabbled to save their belongings as the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Tuesday launched a massive demolition drive in the capital city’s Chandola Talab, targeting 7000 properties, most of them Muslim houses. Muslim bodies in the state have condemned the move that would render thousands homeless.
Authorities link the action to “national security” after the Pahalgam attack, alleging the area was occupied by undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. Over 6,500 people—mostly Muslims—were detained for citizenship checks since the attack on April 26.
This demolition resumed after the Gujarat High Court on April 29 upheld a demolition drive undertaken by state authorities in Ahmedabad’s Chandola lake area on April 28, after observing that the water body is government land and the construction on it was illegal.
On April 28, over 4,000 shanties in Siyasatnagar and Bengali Vaas were razed, displacing thousands, predominantly Muslims.
Many of the affected people are daily-wage workers, ragpickers, and migrants from Rajasthan, MP, and Bengal.
“Demolishing the houses of poor people living on the banks of Chandola Lake is completely inhumane behaviour. People have been living here for more than 40 years,” Mujahid Nafees, Convener of Gujarat-based Minority Coordination Committee, told Maktoob.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
