Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T22:12:27.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - The Informal Market in Rehabilitation Housing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2021

Kaveri Haritas
Affiliation:
OP Jindal Global University
Get access

Summary

In April 2012, M. Srinivas, the then MLA for Rararajeshwari Nagar, and Lakshmikanth Reddy, the Councillor of Laggere, stormed into the Laggere quarters with their supporters and broke open the locks of empty apartments, allowing their supporters to occupy them. This occupation also made it to the newspapers (Rao 2012) and television, as video footage of people storming into the buildings and breaking open locks were disseminated widely by residents in the area through their telephones. According to news reports, 250 homes were occupied, but the KSDB put the total number of homes occupied at 640. When I visited Laggere again in late 2012, Geethamma, a local leader who managed the water taps close to these new apartments, told me that many of those who had occupied the homes were really poor and needed housing, while the remaining were locked up to be sold later in the market. Those who had locked up their homes had moved furniture into it and occasionally visited the area, to give it the semblance of being occupied. Many were trying to sell these homes and the going rate was INR 250,000. With an air of disapproval, she told me that many other residents in the area had taken advantage of this occupation and had occupied homes. This included Ratnamma, a loud stocky widow who was an active supporter of the local councillor, Lakshmikanth Reddy, who had taken two homes for her daughters. Lakshmamma resided in one of the old buildings in the area constructed in the 1980s. As discussed in Chapter 2, these old homes were dilapidated and the KSDB had started making preparations for their demolition and reconstruction. Lakshmamma who had been served a notice to vacate her home had been negotiating with the KSDB for extra homes for her children in the bigger apartment that would take the place of her building post demolition.

This forcible occupation of homes did not come as a surprise to me, as hostility between the elected representatives in Laggere and the KSDB had been building up for many years. During my first interview with the local councillor, he had accused the KSDB of being a corrupt institution that worked closely with Dalit leaders, allotting homes in exchange for bribes.

Type
Chapter
Information
In Search of Home
Citizenship, Law and the Politics of the Poor
, pp. 67 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×