‘Evicted from staff quarter as I am a dalit’
An employee of the Chandra Shekhar Azad (CSA) University of Agriculture Technology, who was allegedly evicted from a residential quarter allotted to him on the campus, has alleged that the university administration was harassing him because he was a Dalit.
While vice chancellor Dr Rajendra Singh denied the allegation, Shrawan Kumar, a dalit employee working under ‘Equal Pay for Equal Work’ scheme of the university alleged that he had been living in a thatched hut on the CSA campus since 2005 but was not allotted a residential quarter for years. He claimed that he has completed 20 years of his service in the university. On last Saturday, the estate office of the university had allotted him a quarter but on the very next day it got the residence vacated alleging that he had taken possession of the quarter illegally by breaking the official lock. Now, the estate department has issued notice asking him to evict the quarter despite the fact it has already put official lock after throwing his household goods out. Shrawan alleged, “To be a Dalit has proved to be curse for me. They are harassing me only because I am a Dalit. I have decided not to go back to the thatched hut and to live under open sky with my family till I am allotted a quarter.” The vice chancellor of the CSA Dr Rajendra Singh denied the charges of harassment and said that Shrawan was not allotted any quarter by the estate department. “In fact, he forcibly occupied a vacant and locked quarter by breaking the lock. Consequently, the estate officer got the illegally occupied quarter evicted and put the official lock on it,” said the VC.“Shrawan approached the SP MLA Satish Nigam and I explained the exact situation and also told him that within next 10 to 15 days Shrawan would be allotted a quarter,” said the VC.
“But I made it clear that it would not be possible to allot the same quarter which Shrawan had occupied two days back illegally as he was insisting on the same,” the VC added. The MLA agreed and advised to do the needful as early as possible, the VC said while maintaining that the varsity had been making administrative arrangements for allotting him a quarter as early as possible.