“Why evict Chenchus to impress delegates”

EAS Sarma urges AP government to desist from going ahead with the proposed displacement of the tribal settlement at ASR Nagar

Visakhapatnam: Former Secretary to the Indian government, EAS Sarma has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to desist from going ahead with the proposed displacement of the tribal settlement at ASR Nagar and also desist from displacing similarly placed hawkers, vendors and small shop owners who are eligible for protection under the relevant Central legislations, while preparing to host the G-20 meetings in the city.

In a letter addressed to Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy here on Monday, he noted that it had become an ugly feature of Visakhapatnam that whenever VIPs visited the city, the poor families squatting on either side of the VIP routes are evicted mercilessly, violating every norm of human rights protection and in a blatant violation of the law of the land.

“I have written time and again to the State authorities to desist from this inhuman response to VIP visits but they seem to be totally insensitive and callous. This time, it is the visit of the delegates to the G-20 meetings being held at Vizag and the Chenchu tribals from ASR Nagar, who were earlier displaced by the same authorities on an assurance that they would be given regular shelters, have been threatened with one more displacement, without any regular shelters being given to them for the last several years. It is unfortunate that the delegates to the G-20 meetings, who represent several countries, are themselves unaware of the proposed human rights violation taking place in the name of their meetings at Vizag,” he pointed out.

Dr. Sarma said that abrupt eviction of the Chenchus, who are recognised under the Constitution as members of the Scheduled Tribes and are also recognised as “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group” (PVTG) by the union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, would attract the penal provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 2015, apart from the provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993. India is a signatory to the UN Charter on Human Rights and such a human rights violation would also attract the attention of the global human rights organisations to the wanton manner in which the authorities in India have been treating their indigenous communities, a matter that should cause concern to the union Ministry of External Affairs, he observed.