Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Members Filling Coffers of PM Cares Fund

Foreign Tablighi Jamaat Members Filling Coffers of PM Cares Fund

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Two hundred fifty foreign Tabligi Jamaat members (TJ) out of 900, belonging to 34 countries have accepted the plea bargain offer of the government and agreed to deposit fines to the PM Cares Fund as a batter deal to walk free.

These 250 foreign TJ members have paid a total sum of INR 434,000,615,000 or Four hundred thirty-four billion six hundred fifteen thousand to PM Cares Fund.

Controversy surrounding PM Cares Fund

PM Cares Fund – an acronym for Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, was set up in March 2020 with the objective of being a “dedicated national fund” to deal with “any kind of emergency or distress situation.”

It has run into controversy after opposition parties questioned the rationale of PM Cares Fund when the PM National Relief Fund is operational. The political parties further raised concern over the transparency of the PM Cares fund as money parked in its coffer cannot be audited independently.

This matter was heard by the Supreme Court under public interest litigation. The Apex Court ruled in favor of the government. It upheld the view that PM Cares fund cannot be subjected to any external auditing.

However, this does not absolve the government from the public criticism that PM Cares Fund is an extortion racket that the government has opened to accumulate money for electoral purposes in the shadow of the pandemics.

"Freedom Money"

Notwithstanding, so far 34 Thai nationals, 22 Nepali nationals, 98 from Indonesia, 23 from Kyrgyzstan, 62 from Malaysia and 11 from Saudi Arabia have deposited their ‘freedom money’ in the PM Cares Fund.

The 34 Thai nationals have paid the fine of Rs 6,000 each totaling INR 204000. The 22 Nepalese nationals paid a fine of 4,000 each totaling INR 88,000. The 98 Indonesians have paid 10,000 each totaling INR 98000. The 23 Kyrgyzstan nationals paid 5000 each totaling INR 115000. The 62 Malaysian paid 7,000 each totaling INR 434000. The 11 Saudi Arabian paid 10,000 each totaling INR 110000.

A grand total of all these money deposited in the PM Cares Fund is staggering INR 434000615000 or Four hundred thirty-four billion six hundred fifteen thousand. The amount so far deposited to the PM Cares Fund is only from 250 TJ members and there are 650 more members to pay their freedom money.

"Bargain Process Option"

A Delhi Metropolitan Magistrate, Gagandeep Jindal, hearing the case of 34 Thai nationals gave them the bargain process option to accept their guilt and pay a fine of Rs 6,000 each. They 34 Thai TJ members deposited INR 2,04,000 to the PM Cares Fund and sought amnesty.

Similarly, another court had directed 22 Nepalese to walk free on a payment of Rs 4,000 fine each. They Nepalese nationals together have deposited INR 88,000 to the PM Cares.

A Metropolitan magistrate Rajat Goyal allowed 98 Indonesians to walk free under the same plea on payment of Rs 10,000 each as a fine. They have deposited INR 98,000 to the PM Cares Fund.

Similarly, another Metropolitan magistrate Rohit Gullia allowed 23 TJ members from Kyrgyzstan to walk free on payment of Rs 5,000 each. The Kyrgzs deposited INR 1, 15,000 to the PM Cares.

In the same process, Metropolitan Magistrate Siddharth Malik had asked 62 Malaysian nationals to pay 7,000 each to gain freedom. They deposited a total sum of INR 4,34,000 to the PM Cares.

A Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Ashish Gupta allowed 11 Saudi Arabian nationals to walk free upon payment of 10,000 each. The Saudis deposited a sum of INR 1, 10,000 to the PM Cares Fund.

Charges against Tablighi Jamaat

A total of 900 foreign nationals from 34 countries had come to India to participate in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in mid-March 2020 in Delhi.

The government has found them guilty on several charges. The first charge being they are super spreaders of coronavirus and are guilty of culpable homicide. This charge was leveled at a time when the COVID 19 figures were not even 500 and no death in the country.

This charge of the government that the TJ members are super spreaders of coronavirus and guilty of culpable homicide has become a laughing stock in the courts, when the COVID 19 cases has crossed over three million with 50 thousand deaths. The government lawyers are finding it hard to substantiate its charge on the TJ members in the current context when India is at number two position in terms of Covid 19 cases.

The second charge by the government is; these foreign TJ members are guilty of violating government orders to Covid-19 lockdown. This charge is also being contested as Tabligi members have given their entire schedule of activities during the lockdown. They allege that it's the government that has disrupted their schedule by announcing the lockdown on midnight of March 24 and they have not violated any lockdown norms. The plantiff is finding hard to defend its allegations and defence arguments seems more logical.

The third charge leveled on the foreign Tabligi Jamat members is that they have misused the visa norms. According to the government they had come to India on tourist visas but had indulged in religious preaching activity and even involved in conversion activity.

This allegation is also being contested, as the TJ members who say that it is the Indian government’s ingenuity that has bestowed on them the certificate of preachers. They are otherwise half literate people, who had come to this great country for learning and travelling purposes. They say that tourist visas are the most appropriate category for such purposes.

The government lawyers have to prove the allegation that TJ members were involved in religious conversion activity.  And the Judge sitting in judgment has to decide whether Tabligis are preachers or just ordinary folks who had come to India to purify their souls.

ED Raids on Tablighi Jamaat HQ

The most serious among all the charges leveled by the government is the allegation that the Tabligi Jamat members are into money laundering. The government has used its Enforcement Directorate that has raided at least 20 places in the country including Tabiligi Jamat’s Markaz in New Delhi. 

In order to dig out the illegal trail of money being laundered by TJ members the ED has asked the money changer shop in front of Tabligi Jamat Markaz in Delhi to provide them a report of 6 years of money being exchanged by the foreign TJ members.

The money laundering charge has not yet come for trial but it is reported that such charge-sheet is being prepared by the government. This is a very serious charge and somehow if the government is able to establish this allegation then the foreign ‘Tabligi Jamat’ members can be in real trouble. This allegation if proved true can lead to the ban of Tabligi Jamat as an organization in the country.

How far the government of the day is going to be successful in proving its allegations will depend upon the court’s wisdom. Right now the government’s allegations against the Tabligi Jamat members look like vendetta against a particular religious community and its religious faith.  

In this story of the plea bargaining offer and acceptance of guilt and its amnesty by paying fine in PM Cares Fund, stand tall some 44 foreign Tabligi Jamat members. These TJ members have hit a discordant chord and dug in before the courts saying they are ready to face the trial till they are exonerated from all the charges or are sentenced for their crime.

Among the brave hearts there are 7 Thai nationals who want the government to proceed with the charges against them. They have made public that they will not accept the plea bargain offer and will not paying any fine to get released. They say they have not done crime and are not guilty of any misconduct. They have openly challenged the government to prove their allegations and are ready to face the gallows.

This is a very interesting case between the government and some courageous religious soul in the shadow of Covid 19. The government has its own agenda to placate its majoritarian vote bank and wants to break the courage of the TJ members with the bait to buy freedom.

The stories of India’s freedom fighters are lace with such saga where the British government had also given similar bait for freedom by paying fine and writing apology. There were some Indian freedom fighters that refused the British government’s offer and preferred jail.

On the same lines are some of these TJ members who strong heads and  to prove the point that if the courts pronounce the judgment that they are not guilty of any misconduct then this government will be clearly in dock for indulging in  anti-Islam and anti-Muslim vilification.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com.

Webinar Discusses Unique Dimensions of Kashmir Situation

Webinar Discusses Unique Dimensions of Kashmir Situation

Syed Ali Mujtaba

‘The army has always felt that internal issues of the Kashmiris where a section have separatist tendencies nurtures requires a political and not a military solution,’ said Lieutenant General Rameshwar Roy, speaking at a webinar; “Challenges towards Peace & Stability in Kashmir” organized by the Tillotoma Foundation.

General Roy, who served as former Director-General, Assam Rifles and Chief-of-Staff, Southern Command and Former Corps Commander at Nagrota, Jammu & Kashmir talked about the challenges related to the administration in Jammu and Kashmir. 

With a resolve to strive for effective development in Kashmir, General Roy pointed out the problems within the delivery mechanism there. He called those problems as obstacles to the development of the Kashmir valley.

General Roy highlighted about the internal politics of Kashmir and talked about corruption at the low level administrative bodies and upwards in the former state. 

General Roy was emphatic that day-to-day problems of the Kashmiri people should be addressed immediately.  He also wished that non-security issues in Kashmir should be handled in a better manner.

The second speaker of the webinar, Jitendra Kumar Ojha, National Security Analyst & former Joint Secretary, Government of India, said the conflict in Kashmir has a lot of unique dimensions.

Mr Ojha touched upon the issue of money laundering in Kashmir. He spoke about the radicalization of Kashmiri youth as well as the major military and non-military threats to internal security.

Highlighting some major factors for peace and stability, Mr Ojha talked about Pakistan’s engagement in Kashmir conflict. State-sponsored covert war, raking up Kashmir issue at international forums and radicalization of the Pakistani diaspora, are some of the modus operandi of Pakistan to remain relevant in the conflict, Mr Ojha said.  

 Ms Yukta Acharya, Senior Coordinator & Research Associate, Tillotoma Foundation who moderated the discussion  said that there is a humanitarian angle involved in the Kashmir situation and this has be looked into with human compassion. 

‘We are not only concerned about the peace and stability in Kashmir but also about the well-being of people of Kashmir, Ms Acharya said.

 The Kashmiri people have suffered a lot over the years and they should no further suffer more hardship and this should be the priority right now, she added.

Ms Acharya said the event of August 5, 2019 is a seminal development that has heavily impacted the situation in Kashmir valley, and pose a major challenge towards building peace and stability in Kashmir.

Elaborating on this, Ms Acharya pointed that since August 5, 2019 there is heavy deployment of armed forces in the Kashmir valley.  The deployment of such large number of Armed forces has vitiated peace in the region.  The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) gives special powers to the army personnel in Kashmir.  The use or misuse of AFSPA should be taken into consideration when we are talking about challenge towards building peace and stability in Kashmir. Linked to it are the human rights issues and that must be protected at any cost, Ms Acharya concluded.

Tillotoma Foundation based in Kolkata is engaged in International Relations, Financial, Environmental, and Strategic & Defence Policy globally.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

 

 

Watch Mohammed Rafi Training Recruits

Watch Mohammed Rafi Training Recruits

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Meet Mohammed Rafi is an Assistant Sub-Inspector of police in Telangana. His job is to train Telangana State Special Protection Force. He does so in his unique style. The recruits love his style and gleefully do the exercise without feeling any drudgery.

ASI Mohammed Rafi has found an interesting way to train. He uses the tunes of one of the popular Hindi track ‘Dhal Gaya Din’ of legendary playback singer Mohammad Rafi and he sings along while conducting the drill practice of the recruits.

While conducting physical drills, ASI Rafi’s style brings the recruits out of their physical duress and all enjoy the drill practice wholeheartedly.

Leaving many amused, Mohammed Rafi’s drill practice video clip has become viral on the social media. This video is viewed by over one lakh netizens. It has prompted hilarious reactions from many and some have lauded the drill instructor for his creative style of training.

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IPS officer Anil Kumar and the official Twitter page of Indian Police Service Association have made his video clip public. After that, Mohammed Rafi has become very popular figure in the country.  Watch Mohmmad Rafi in action….

 http://muslimmirror.com/eng/video-watch-mohammed-rafi-how-he-trains-police-recruits/

PM Modi should Restore J&K Status for Chinese withdrawal

PM Modi should Restore J&K Status for Chinese withdrawal 

Syed Ali Mujtaba

There is a Chinese proverb; the one who ties the knot can alone untie it. This proverb China wants to attribute to India to reduce the tensions going on along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). China wants India to undo the abrogation Article 370 that changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

There are few plausible reasons making rounds for Chinese incursion into India. They are; India’s construction of Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldi (DSDBO) road from 2000. India along with the US and other powers hedging China and India not complying with Wuhan spirit or it’s follow up at Mamallapuram near Chennai are other reasons given for Chinese aggression.  

Among the numerous stance of India breaking the Wuhan spirit, the most logical seems to be the abrogation of Article 370 that relates to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, and the claim over the territories in the possession of China thus challenging China’s territorial integrity.

This idea was conveyed by Wang Shida, the Deputy Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR).

He says:     “On the Chinese side, India opened up new territory on the map, incorporated part of the areas under the local jurisdiction of Xinjiang and Tibet into its Ladakh Union Territory. This has forced China into the Kashmir dispute and stimulated it to take counter-actions on the Kashmir issue.” CICIR is Beijing-based think-tank affiliated to the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence body.

The author says, China had raised this issue at the United Nations Security Council. ‘The Foreign Minister had conveyed China’s strong opposition to the India’s moves of abrogation of Article 370 and the establishment of Ladakh as a union territory.’

The author quoted Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in Parliament of taking back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chin from China.

Wang Shida said such statement had “posed a challenge to the sovereignty of Pakistan and China and “made India-Pakistan relations and China-India relations more complex.”

 The author acknowledged that India’s foreign minister had conveyed to Beijing that the move was an entirely internal matter that did not impact India’s external boundaries or the LAC with China. But China opposed the Ladakh map for including Aksai Chin as a part of Indian Territory as that has dramatically increased the difficulty in resolving the border issue.

Now in such situation the question is will India untie the knot, the way Chinese wants it to do?  Will PM Modi restore the previous status of Jammu and Kashmir in bargain for the withdrawal of Chinese troops?   Or will he stick to his party’s nationalist agenda that changed the status quo in Jammu and Kashmir, even if it means compromising Indian Territory?   

As things stand on ground military level talks has failed between India and China. The PLA had flatly rejected the Indian demand for the withdrawal of the Chinese troops from the areas it occupied in May and restores the status quo that prevailed in April.

The Galwan River valley intrusion did not feature in the discussion of the military talks, the core issue of the current dispute. The PLA refused to discuss its intrusions into the Galwan River valley and instead claimed its ownership over the entire area that Indian forces were patrolling for over two and half decades.  At the moment the PLA has fortified its position at the Galwan River valley and are in a striking distance to India’s strategic Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldi (DSDBO) road.

As a consequence of dominating the DSDBO road, the Chinese have gained strategically and isolated India from the Depsang area where the road ends. The sub sector north (SSN) ends at Depsang plains, India’s last outpost at the base of the Karakoram Pass.

The other focal point of Chinese intrusion is on the north bank of the Pangong Lake. Here, the PLA is controlling the mountain ridges that overlook the lake and slopes from the height of Finger 8,7,6,5 and 4. Chinese claim line is now at finger 3 which they made a buffer zone and the new LAC. Indian patrols cannot go beyond Finger 3 and controls only finger 1&2.

It appears that China now has come inside three to five kilometres that is supposedly to be the Indian Territory. They occupy some sixty kilometres of Indian land. Since no joint statement was released after the India China military talks, its outcome is well known.

Now the problem Indian leadership faces is to diplomatically engage China and make them retreat to pre-April position. This is only possible only if there is some give and take. The give is India restore the previous status of J&K and the take is China withdraw its troops from its advanced position so that India regain its territory.

If this happens India will untie the knot and both go back to their old positions. India will go back to pre-August 5, 2019 position and China to pre May 2020 position. 

If this doesn’t happen then the government has to accept the loss of territory to China while keep on bluffing that the negotiation channel is on, and just like black stashed abroad which is yet to come the leadership will be promising it will retrieve the loss of territory from China.

In such case, the super nationalist leadership of the country has to go for an all-out war with China and evict it from its territory as India did with Pakistan during the Kargil war 1999. The problem in such adventurism is India may not get colonized again.    

All these are Hobbesian choices for India to make. But they very well fits into the Chinese proverb that the one who ties the knot can alone untie it.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

Foreign Tablighi Jamaat members are to be sent back from India

Foreign Tablighi Jamaat members are to be sent back from India

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is in the process of deporting the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation in March 2020. They had been booked for violating visa norms.

They have completed the quarantine cycle and have been for more than three months in detention in India. The Indian government has been receiving requests from foreign governments to repatriate their citizens as soon as possible.

These foreign TJ members are from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and other countries.  The government is in touch with foreign embassies to initiate the process of their deportation.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has made public that 2,594 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members had come to India since January till June 2, 2020. Among them 960 members are still in India.          

However there is an utter confusion in the actual numbers foreign Tablighi Jamaat members currently in India. The UP government has told the Allahabad High Court that it has 279 TJ members. The Delhi figure is 541 and the Chennai figure is 125. If we add them it makes 945, while the MHA has released the figure of 960. Where 15 other foreign TJ members are, is unknown.

In the related development the government has confiscated the passport of 723 foreign nationals among them are 23 Nepali nationals whose identity cards are taken away.  Among them are 270 Bangladeshi nationals.

The government sources say that many of the foreign nationals have violated the visa norms and have been blacklisted from entering India for next 10 years. They had entered India on the tourist visa but were engaged in preaching activities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials have reportedly said; “the foreigner TJ members will be deported, but the cases filed against them will go on. The foreign embassies will arrange the flights and make arrangement for the return of their citizens.”

The MHA further said “those indulging in Tablighi activities have done a specific visa violation and will attract a fine of $500. Some of them do not have any money with them and the government will consider waiving the fine.”

Recently, the MHA has added a new category in the general policy guidelines relating to visa, putting restrictions on engaging in Tabligh activities in India.

In the related development the Uttar Pradesh government had informed the Allahabad High Court that 279 foreign Tablighi workers were lodged in jails while 46 had left the country after being released from institutional quarantine.

Similarly, Delhi Police has filed charge sheets against 541 such foreigners for violating visa norms, but arrested none of them. In Chennai there are 125 foreign TJ members under detention at the Borstal school in the Puzhal prison complex. They were arrested from various parts of the state for violating visa norms. 

Among the 125 foreign TJ members in Chennai there are 13 male members from Bangladesh, 13 from Myanmar, 14 from Thailand, more than 10 from Malaysia, 46 from Indonesia among them 6 are women, and 8 from Ethiopia among them 4 are women and 9 from France, besides other countries.  

Some of those foreign TJ members were in Tamil Nadu much before the TJ- Corona linkage was found in Delhi but were also being arrested along with those who had come to the state after attending the congregation in Delhi.     

The Federation of Muslim Organizations and Parties had demanded their immediate release and deportation to their respective countries.  “It is perhaps first time in the history of India that a detention camp is made for foreigners visiting Tamil Nadu,” said M. H. Jawahirullah President of the political party 'Manithaneya Makkal Katchi’.  

“The foreigner’s belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat had come to the state on a pilgrimage but were arrested on false charges at the behest of the Central government,” he added.  

The MMK leader said, “It is not the first time any foreigner has violated the visa rules but it is the first time foreigners are arrested for breaking visa rules. He   wondered if the government will apply the same yardstick on the Hindu, Christian or Jew preachers who may come to India for preaching purposes on tourist visa.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@mail.com

How Indian and Chinese troops fought at Galwan River Valley

How Indian and Chinese troops fought at Galwan River Valley

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The Indian troops fight with PLA on Monday June 15, 2020 had claimed at least 23 soldiers’ lives. The death toll may go up as at least 24 soldiers are battling for life, said a senior government official familiar with the debriefing of Galwan valley survivors at the hospitals in Leh the capital of Ladak. There are over 110 Indian soldiers who are badly injured in same fight and are under treatment, said the same source. 

In response to the Indian causalities, the Indian Army source claim that  it intercepted a Chinese military communication suggesting that over 40 PLA soldiers were killed or injured in the fight with the Indian troops. There is no reaction from the Chinese side and they have not yet reported their causalities.  

The fighting began on Monday night, June 15, after Indian troops belonging to the 16 Bihar Regiment, under commanding officer, Colonel Santosh Babu dismantled a Chinese tent set up near a position code-named Patrol Point 14, close to the mouth of the Galwan River.

The tent that was there but was dismantled by the PLA as part of its disengagement process after the army commanders meeting held earlier was again set up at the same place.

Commanding officer Colonel Babu of 16 Bihar regiment ‘got orders from the top’ to go ahead and dismantle the tent.  He went with his troops that led to clashes with its Chinese counterpart and in the ensuing fight, the Indian troops burnt down the Chinese tent.   

 The PLA has made allegation that Colonel Babu’s troops crossed a buffer zone separating the two sides, violating border-management protocols and did not use the white flags and banners to enter the Chinese side. This prompted the Chinese side to engage the Indian soldiers into hand to hand fist fight.

 The Indian troops fought with bare hands for over eight hours in sub-zero temperatures and had no means of defense as there was no one to back them up.  On the contrary, the PLA had iron rods as well as batons wrapped in barbed wire. Some were even carrying improvised weapons but were non fire arms.

The PLA hunted down the unarmed Indian soldiers when they started running away from the fight and killed some of them without showing any mercy. Few Indian soldiers who fled the scene and ran to the hillsides were also chased and killed by the PLA. One Indian soldier, jumped into the Galwan River in a desperate effort to save his life, but was pulled out from the water and killed.

The PLA dragged many Indian soldiers to their side and killed them in a cold blood manner. Later their dead bodies were handed over to the Indian side.

The investigation and inquiries of this incident is a procedural matter, but the obvious questions that every Indian has in mind is who had ordered Colonel Santosh Babu and lead his troops and dismantle the Chinese tent. Knowing very it’s lion’s den why the lambs were sent to become the mincemeat.

The Indian soldiers were not killed in action but were done to death by those who commanded them to go to the Chinese side. 

Secondly, why there were no backup troops when the Indian soldiers came under attack by the PLA.  Even the Indian rescue operation was shoddy. The Indian casualties could have been minimized if the evacuation could have been done swiftly.

Well answers to these questions cannot be brushed behind the veil of defense secrecy. What has happened at Galwan is a national shame. Those who have brought disrepute to the Indian Army should not go unpunished.

Tailpiece: This report is prepared based on the available open sources. The author does not claim any responsibility for the authenticity of the source. The questions that are raised are in larger public interest and with the objective is to give vent to people’s concerns.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

2002 Gujarat Riot Victim’s Rehabilitation Woes Continues

2002 Gujarat Riot Victim’s Rehabilitation Woes Continues

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The woe of the victim families of the Gujarat riots of 2002 continues unabated. Even 18 years after that horrendous communal program the victims are living in utter neglect.

Close to two lakh people were displaced in the 2002 Gujarat riots. These people remained displaced for more than a year then some Muslim relief organizations, along with a few local NGOs, settled 16,087 people in 83 relief colonies spread across Gujarat.

What happened to the rest of the people neither the government nor do the NGOs have any clue, none has ever kept any account of such internally displaced people.

Among the 16,087 displaced people, some 200 victim families were rehabilitated at Dhoraji Nagar and Citizen Nagar in Ahmadabad. This was done with the help of local Muslim philanthropists.  

Citizen Nagar a slum of 40 houses, popularly known as Bombay hotel area, was donated by the Kerala Muslim League Relief Committee then headed by late E. Ahmed, MP from Malappuram.  

Close to both Dhoraji Nagar and Citizen Nagar localities is Ahmadabad’s Pirana garbage dump yard which is one-kilometer long and fifty feet high heap of trash. As the garbage dumping from all over the city continues, its foul smell pervades the entire atmosphere over these two colonies. The bad smell causes breathing problem to the people living in there.

A PIL seeking closure of the Pirana garbage dump is pending in the Gujarat high court and no one seems to be bothered about its impact on the public health.

There is no traversable road to these rehabilitation colonies. During the rainy season, the filth from the garbage dump comes inside the houses of these human habitats and continues till the monsoon ends.

There is no regular outflow of the sewage from these localities. Water borne diseases are common in the twin colonies.  The ground water is not potable and people have to travel some distance to get drinkable water.  

There is no primary health centers located in these localities. There is no school for the children there. Mostly children go to the garbage dump yard to pick up rags or something useful that they can sell.

Most men are doing low level jobs in the chemical factories nearby. The average income of the family here is about INR two thousand per month. Most of them are daily-wage earners and their earnings are insufficient for a family unit of five or six.  

Like all the relief colonies spread across Gujarat, these two rehabilitation colonies were also set up as a temporary camp but now have burgeoned into a permanent slum.

However, the ownership documents of these dwellings have not yet been given to the rehabilitated families. This is a major issue and because this most of these people face the problem in getting a PAN card, Aadhaar, passport or even a loan.

The Gujarat government had promised the development of these Muslim ghettos where the riot victims are living but even after eighteen years their apathy is palpable.