UAE | Housing & Property
Sharjah residents on eviction notice had nowhere to go
The municipality demolished around 10 old houses in Al Sharqiya area on Thursday and residents said they were not given time to collect their belongings.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 15:08 May 16, 2008
- Image Credit: Atiq-Ur-Rehman/Gulf News
- Ten old houses in the Al Sharqiya area have been demolished.
Sharjah: Residents say they were not given any opportunity to collect their belongings before the municipality demolished 10 old houses in the Al Sharqiya area on Thursday.
They said bulldozers tore down the homes as they stood by and watched helplessly. They were not allowed to take their possessions. Police had accompanied the bulldozers, they said.
The families who had been occupying these homes for many years included Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Indians and others of Asian origin.
They are mostly lower middle class families.
A widow, Zainab, who lived in one of the houses with her two teenage daughters, said she had kept some goats and sheep and earned her living selling their milk and meat.
"I have been living here for the past 30 years. I have no place to go. No money to rent another house. The power and water were switched off several days ago," she said.
She said they had received evacuation notices many times in the past, but had nowhere else to go. She said she approached the municipality several times asking for help but was ignored.
Khan, who was living in another home, works as a taxi driver. He said he cannot afford rent anywhere else.
"I begged the municipal inspector to let me collect my belongings, but was refused. I was warned if I stepped into my house I would be jailed," he said. He has been living under a tree near his demolished house for the past few days.
He too said the municipality had served notices earlier and electricity and water were cut to force residents out.
Ali, another resident, said: "The problem is that we have no place to go."
A municipal spokesperson said residents had been given many chances to relocate during the past two years.
"They completely ignored the warnings," he said.
He said other houses in the area will also be demolished because they are very old and may collapse.
More from UAE Housing & Property
More from UAE
Community Reports
-
Exposed electric wires pose danger
Unwary children vulnerable to electrocution hazard
-
Keep recycling bins open
People should be allowed to do their part as the world moves towards a greener future
-
Bridges needed
Al Ittihad Road has no pedestrian facilities as one nears Sharjah
-
Street lights needed
Authorities urged to act with haste before a major accident occurs in Al Nahda, Dubai
Latest news
- Exposed electric wires pose danger
- Dubai to have a new zoo soon
- World's best fight for Strongest Man title
- Winds hamper bid to retrieve sunken tanker
- Sharjah Police add innovative bike to unit
- Dubai hospitals move to reduce paper use
- UAE bans export of groundwater
- Safety drive after porter dies
- Mohammad offers his condolences to Al Shaikh
- Rulers and Crown Princes attend wedding ceremony
- Man 'mentally ill when he stabbed girlfriend'
- Restaurateur ignored calls to wind up business
- Suicide-bid mother to give police statement
- Maids face charges over illicit affairs
- Police warn against reckless use of stun guns
