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In a growing urban landscape, the news of evictions as described by state actors and the plight of people living in the contested areas is often seen as a clear-cut case of black and white. The latest case of ‘encroachers being evicted’ that is taking place at Sangakpham area currently is on of the many instances where Government action followed by years of turning away a blind eye has resulted in much angst. As many would know, akin to other public spaces in and around Imphal, the area has for long been lived by people of the area who have constructed their houses and small business establishments over quite a period of time. The construction of the illegal structures were all in public domain and being seen by members of the establishment all this while. And since, no one was taking any action against the first few encroachers, many others followed suit investing their money and setting up homes and shops and the like. Now that the Government has decided to keep the place free from encroachers, the residents are crying foul. Here, the blame must be shared equally by both parties: the public for foraying into public property and using it without seeking legal approval and the government for neglecting to take timely action. In fact the lack of timely attention is often seen as tacit approval, which leads the public into a happy state of denial and not to forget commercial interests to take advantage and take over public property gradually. Often, the people who have settled into public area use the emotional track of pointing out that they have been living in the area since a long time and that destroying their property would amount to a loss of their investment capital etc.
The issue of encroaching into public property by the public is common across the country. In crowded cities and metros, the phenomenon of pavement dwellers and slums spilling into public property and staying out for long spells is beginning to get the attention of activists who say that people are being evicted to appease only a minority of the capitalist class who enter the picture on the card of ‘development’ ‘cleanliness’ and ‘urbanization’ of course. In Manipur too and mostly in the growing urban landscapes in Imphal and other district headquarters, most areas are encroached upon. The public knowingly encroaches while the concerned department willfully looks the other way. This has been happening for a long spell with sudden spurts of the Government machinery waking up from its slumber and getting into defensive and action control mode by demolishing structures. At one point of time, the Nambul river embankment side towards the rear of the Paona bazaar was full of encroachers. In what can only be greater irony, Keishampat area, which is the pulse centre of Imphal since it leads the way to the nerve centers of the town is full of encroachers thriving on both sides of the road.
Do people encroaching on public space need Government support and rehabilitation packages? Unfortunately, the answer is a big no with the Supreme Court saying that encroaching on public property is illegal. The observations came from a Bench comprising Justices Ruma Pal and Markanday Katju in 2006 which allowed civic authorities to demolish slum clusters in New Delhi. The only concession was that it directed civic authorities to ensure that people who had been living in the contested/disputed areas from a certain stipulated time should be helped with finding alternative spaces to settle down again. Of course, forced evictions from a legally owned property is a different issue altogether and the Government can only be on its back foot if it uses its machineries at its disposal to evict people from such areas. There is a wide awning gap between legal paperwork and emotional outbursts though social and traditional forms of ownership in certain cases are also recognized as equal to legal ownership. A case in point would be how this current case of eviction would be different from the evictions of fisher community who have lived down the ages around Loktak lake. But to save the trouble, it would far be better if the citizens on their part did not venture out to public property or to property not owned by them. On its part, the Government needs to step up its role in terms of timely action.
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