Guest workers come back to homes reduced to ashes

With slum in Kacharakahalli gutted, workers are sleeping on the road; students have no way to study as their books are burnt too

Around 200 guest workers from Kalaburagi had gone to their hometown for a temple fair days before the lockdown was implemented. When they returned to the city, a ghastly sight awaited them.

A fire had destroyed their homes while they were away. It is alleged that the land mafia and their goons are responsible for this act of arson.

They used to live in a slum near Chandrika Soap Factory, in Kacharakanahalli for the past 13 years. But with their houses gutted, they have been sleeping on the road ever since they got back.

The workers had planned to return as soon as the fair in Ravoor village in Chitapur taluk was over, but could not do so as the lockdown was imposed.

“We have been living here for 13 years. The Karnataka Slum Development Board has recognised this place as a slum and even allotted us title deeds. We do not know who burnt our homes,’’ said Venkatesh B, a construction worker.

The Karnataka Slum Development Board has not only recognized the slum, it has also constructed a few toilets for the slum-dwellers’ to use. In the workers’ families are several children, and all their school books have been completely gutted. Among them are three SSLC students, who have their exams coming.

“I want to pursue higher studies and become a government employee to support my parents. I was at my hometown when our homes were burnt. I came to Bengaluru to prepare for exams, but am helpless now as my books are all burnt,’’ said Venkatappa, an SSLC student of Government High School at Kacharakanahalli.

“I have been staying here for 18 years now. My husband is a security guard and I work as a construction labourer. My daughter is in Class 9 at a private school. Now, I have neither a shelter nor a livelihood for survival,’’ said Aruna. These people have no means even to cook food now.

“We are worried about our safety. We cannot even sleep in peace in the night. I do not know what our future holds here,’’ said Vinod B, a slum-dweller.

Bidugade Chirutegalu general secretary V Murthy said that a complaint has been lodged with KG Halli Police seeking protection to the slum-dwellers.

“I blame the land mafia for the plight of the slum-dwellers. The land mafia engaged rowdies and miscreants to burn the shelters of these hapless people who were at their hometowns. The government must extend its help to them,” he said. He said he plans to lead a delegation of the slum-dwellers to meet Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa shortly.

HBR Layout ward corporator P Anand said that Sarvagnanagar MLA K J George has been informed about the incident. “I have lodged a complaint with the police to take stringent action against those responsible for burning these houses. We have supplied ration kits to them,” he said.