Bihar: Government is razing Dalit colony for airport in Gopalganj
The total land area of Sabaeya Airport is spread over an area of 338 acres. The government says that 1011 people have encroached on the land here. These 1011 people were identified by the Defense Ministry. At the same time, the Defense Ministry had also handed over the list to the Defense Estates Officer (DEO) Danapur for their eviction from the land. In a report sent to the MP cum JDU National Treasurer, it was said that 1011 encroachers have been identified on the 338-acre area of Sabeya Airport. Those who have constructed agricultural use, kutcha houses and pucca houses on the airport land.
According to the reports, Sabeya airport is a matter of happiness for the people living in the surrounding Gulf countries apart from the district, while it is a sudden trouble for the people of the Mahadalit settlement located in the area. However, the district administration officials are mapping the land while including Sabeya airport in the UDAN scheme.
On the other hand, apart from the action of the district administration and the government, the Dalit colony says that this settlement was established in 1991 on the instructions of Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The then CM had got the colony constructed in Mahadalit Basti. Under the Indira Awas Yojana including the school road, houses and benefits of various government schemes were given. Facilities were also provided for the people living in the township by spending government money on government schemes.
According to a website covering local issues of Bihar, Sunita Devi, Botha Nut and Bhikhu, who live in the basti, say, “Lalu Prasad has made us settle here. We are poor people. He runs his family by working as a labourer.
He further told that “This is our home, leaving it where will we go? Apart from this, we do not have any accommodation. Now airplanes will fly here, but the government which settled us here, the same government is uprooting us from here. Where will we go, what will we eat, and how will we live. The local people say that either the government should give us a colony to live in or else we will die here, but will not vacate this land.
