A Gujarat high court division bench consisting chief justice SJ Mukhopadhaya has allowed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to form a committee to address rehabilitation issues of the Sabarmati Riverfront slum dwellers.
Around 4,000 families had to be displaced for the Sabarmati project and need to be rehabilitated. Almost 2,000 families have already been re-established while the rest are yet to be accommodated elsewhere. The displaced families had submitted a petition demanding proper rehabilitation in the Gujarat high court.
On Thursday, the state government proposed the formation of a high level committee headed by a retired high court judge and officials of the AMC to handle the rehabilitation issues. The committee will resolve all the problems faced by the slum dwellers during the rehabilitation process.
However, Girish Patel, the slum dwellers’ counsel has argued that, the subject experts should also be included in the committee so that they can assist in the process of rehabilitation. Patel mooted a proposal seeking inclusion of Dr Darshini Mahadevia and Indira Hirve. Mahadevia is a professor in School of Architecture in Cept while Hirve is a former professor of Gujarat University and handles issues related to human development.
After hearing both sides, the bench allowed AMC to form a committee headed by the Gujarat high court chief justice and would include both Mahadevia and Hirve in the proposed body. It is pertinent to note that HC has issued a stay over the evacuation of the slum dwellers for the ongoing project.
