425 houses razed in Ramdevnagar slums

Vadodara: Nearly 425 houses were demolished at Ramdevnagar in Gotri on Sunday morning amid tight police bandobast.
Many slum dwellers had vacated their houses following notices issued by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC).
VMC had issued the notices on the grounds that the locals had been polluting the pond nearby that the civic body was planning to rejuvenate."The demolition exercise was completed peaceful and all the houses were razed without any hiccups," said Mangesh Jaiswal, VMC's encroachment director.
The civic body used 30 bulldozers to demolish the houes that were within 40 m of the Gotri pond. The area from where the houses were removed will be used for pond development.
Interestingly, Ramdevnagar was developed as a pilot project for slum upgrading two decades with aid from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Even the residents had contributed to the development.
Civic officials, however, argued that when the slum pocket was developed, laws regarding conservation of water bodies and environment protection were not very strict.
VMC has also promised to provide alternative housing to the local residents. The civic body has been on demolition spree over past few weeks and has razed many encroachments including some in the communally sensitive areas.