Urban Renewal Plans Render Millions Jobless (Delhi)

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4//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy—URBAN RENEWAL PLANS RENDER MILLIONS JOBLESS
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35370


The livelihoods of at least two million workers have been affected by a crackdown on unauthorised commercial properties in the Indian capital that was violently opposed this past week by mobs rampaging through the streets and torching public buses and blocking traffic.

All businesses stayed shut for three days in a strike action called by traders' organisations in protest against the sealing and razing of shops and encroachments under a court order.

On Friday, the state government told the Supreme Court that it could not resume the clean up because of public ire. Disaffection has been growing in Delhi since the large-scale closure or shifting of industries and removal of slum settlements to outlying parts of Delhi, far away from jobs, schools and essential services. There are continuing threats to livelihoods, for instance a ban on cycle rickshaws (pedicabs) on main roads and the eviction of hawkers from the city's pavements.

"Nearly half the workforce is threatened by loss or serious erosion of livelihoods," said Dunu Roy, who leads a joint forum of organisations working on poverty and livelihood issues in the Indian capital. "The future is grim," he warned.

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