There has been a noticeable rise in demolition of ‘illegal’ settlements by bulldozers in India. In this post, Ananya Sharma looks at the complex relationship between home, identity and demolitions in a recent case where the state government, with support from the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal, demolished riverside properties for a redevelopment project. 

The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) under the aegis of the state government of Uttar Pradesh in India recently carried out massive demolitions in Akbar Nagar colony as part of the Kukrail Riverfront Beautification and Rejuvenation Project to transform the area into a hub for eco-tourism. These included destruction of 1,169 illegal residential properties and more than 100 commercial properties.

The development of the Kukrail riverfront is an ambitious project modeled around a similar project in the western state of Gujarat’s Sabarmati River. In Uttar Pradesh, the state government proposed a comprehensive roadmap to establish India’s first night safari and wildlife park in Kukrail forest along with other facilities.

But this bid to promote eco-tourism comes at the cost of people’s homes and livelihoods. The administration, supported by an order from the Supreme Court, claims that the structures being demolished are encroachments on the floodplains by ‘land mafias as well as Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators’. The Department of Irrigation of Uttar Pradesh, in compliance with the National Green Tribunal, marked the floodplain zone extending to 50 meters from the riverbank and the riverbed (the latter being demarcated at 35 meters).

Residents on these lands claim that they are the legitimate owners of the land, possessing valid documents. Displaced residents have been guaranteed rehabilitation under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at a registration cost of INR 5,000 (US$ 60 approx.). Following the demolitions in Akbar Nagar, residents of Abrar Nagar, Rahim Nagar and Pant Nagar raised fears regarding several houses being marked in red, anticipating demolition. Residents of these localities, particularly women, organised themselves under the Trans Gomti Niwasi Sangharsh Samiti (lit., ‘Trans Gomti Residents’ Housing Struggle Committee’) to raise their collective voice against these selective and arbitrary demolitions. Their worries were assuaged by the Chief Minister, who recently announced that no further houses will be demolished in Pant Nagar or Indraprastha Nagar.

The demolitions in lieu of development of the Kukrail riverfront raise questions regarding the punitive power of the state, the symbolic significance of home and the tensions between the developmentalist vision of the state and a humane approach to urban planning.

Home and the Politics of Destruction

The relationship between people and space is both material and symbolic. Home is an intimately affective space associated with a promise of safety, a foundation of a sense of belonging and a matter of dignity and pride. It is a site of everyday lived experiences which forms the centre of one’s life. Bulldozer demolitions produce loss of homes: the demolitions lead to uprooting of identity and result in a sense of placeless-ness and non-belonging. For most of the vulnerable populations, home is also intricately tied to sources of livelihoods and displacement entails loss of jobs. The loss of homes not only leads to physical displacement and fragmentation of community networks but also exacerbates socio-economic inequalities.

Punitive State Power

India has seen a record rise in forced evictions with the use of bulldozers to demolish properties, particularly those belonging to Muslim minorities often premised on charges of ‘encroachment’ or alleged ‘miscreants/rioters’. According to the Housing and Land Rights Network more than 738,000 people have been forcefully evicted and 153,000 homes have been destroyed in 2022–23.  The two most prominent reasons for eviction were beautification/development plans or removal of encroachment/settlement constituting 59 per cent of the cases. Demolitions undertaken for the Kukrail Riverfront Project also predominantly affected Muslims living the area.

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The bulldozer, which has traditionally been conceived as a harbinger of development and urban planning, has come to insidiously symbolise unchecked and sovereign power carrying out the spectacle of destruction, disproportionately targeting minorities and marginalised groups.  The demolitions manifest the punitive nature of power where the state presents itself as righteous in punishing those whose houses are demolished, both normalising and glorifying the violence in the process. This model of development is both cruel and appalling as it displaces and dispossesses the most marginalised communities in society. These targeted demolitions have a debilitating effect that is felt beyond the homes being reduced to rubble and altering landscapes.

In India’s religiously polarised political climate, bulldozer demolitions have been celebrated by many. However, the recent spate of demolitions also brings into focus the human costs of urban development projects and underscore the need for prioritising welfare for the residents. Rather than exacerbating existing schisms on religious identities, they are framed as targeting the economically poor sections with both communities aligning to protest against state action. They highlight how marginalised communities live in an environment of perpetual fear and helplessness against the power of the state and grapple with loss and dehumanisation through such punitive acts of the state.

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Banner image © Vincenzo Cassano, ‘House Demolition using Bulldozer during an Anti-encroachment Eviction Drive in Guwahati, Assam, India’, 2023, Unsplash.

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