AT LEAST 11 million people in India risk being uprooted from their homes and land as authorities build highways and airports and cordon off forests, activists said on Tuesday, undermining a government push to provide housing for all citizens by 2022.
Last year alone, authorities demolished at least 114 houses every day, evicting about 23 people every hour, according to HLRN's report published on Tuesday in New Delhi.Slum clearance and city"beautification" drives accounted for nearly half the evictions, while infrastructure and development projects, and forest protection made up a fourth each, it said.
The rapid growth of Indian cities, combined with unclear land ownership, is increasingly triggering legal disputes and forceful evictions of poorer communities, rights groups said. An official at the Delhi Development Authority, which undertook evictions in the Indian capital, said there is"huge pressure" from builders and other entities to free up land.