Shifting of hut dwellers delays, people await shelter

Karmika Nagar: Although 250 families have been shifted from huts, the target of providing shelter to the people living in huts still remains to be completed. Around 50-80 more families are left on roads since the process delayed because of the election code.

"We have provided shelter to some 310 families living in huts on stretch of Rahamathnagar outpost to Sriram Nagar, and for some from Karmika Nagar. Dwellers were given shelter at Beeramguda and many others were listed shall be moved from the stretch once the process is completed.

The documentation is mostly done and some are in the process of verification and renewals. It's a bit delayed due to election code, but the process is underway. We shall wind up the works, and in no time we shall shift people living in huts to houses constructed for them in Beeramguda," said Krishna, senior revenue officer at Khairatabad.

Relocation of huts from the stretch widens the road and should make space for hurdle-free traffic. If all the dwellers relocated at a time, then it would stop formations of new huts. Immediate action is needed before it's too late, as the dwellers have already started doing business with huts to settle.

Rumors are rife that some residents are paying for the huts to be present at the time of survey only to obtain a house and shelter. The officials say that if anyone is proven guilty in such cases, they shall be punished.

"People who lived with us got shelter long back and living in Beereamguda, but we still wait for shelter. Weekly once, we visit mandal office to remind them about us, we get appointment sometimes and sometimes we don't. We have faith in our MLA Maganti Gopinath, so we are still waiting," the dwellers said.

Speaking about the long wait, a dweller said, "It's been four-and-a-half years that we are living in these half-roof huts, and we still believe that the government stands by us. All we request the official is to consider us with utmost priority."

Rains bring us shivers because the huts we made for ourselves might flow away. Monsoon is difficult to handle. We just wait for the shelter to stay, says Durga, a dweller on the stretch. On the other side, some dwellers refuse to vacant the place claiming that Beeramguda is far away and difficult to find work there.