Friday, 15 July 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand high court has sought a detailed response from the Haridwar district magistrate within two weeks while hearing on a public interest litigation against eviction of leprosy patients from the banks of the Ganga and other places in Haridwar. The division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice RC Khulbe has asked the district magistrate how many accommodations (Kushth Ashram) are there for leprosy patients in Haridwar district, the number of leprosy patients, the number of kuccha and pucca homes for them, the number of Kushth Ashrams in Chandighat area and their distance from the Ganga river, the arrangement for rehabilitation of leprosy patients and the budget allocated for the same and the arrangements made for the accommodation and health. The district magistrate has been directed to submit an affidavit in the court.
According to the case details, Dehradun based NGO Welfare Society Trust had sent a letter to the chief justice in the past stating that while removing encroachments from along the Ganga and other places in Haridwar recently the government had also displaced the leprosy patients. The leprosy patients are now homeless and have no arrangement for accommodation. Amidst heavy rain too, the leprosy patients were being forced to live in the open. The high court took up this letter in the form of a PIL. The letter further stated that during the President’s visit in 2018, the then district magistrate had directed demolition of Ganga Mata Kushth Rog Ashram in the Chandighat area and other such facilities. Seven other large Kushth Ashrams near the Ganga Mata Kushth Rog Ashram were left untouched as they were allegedly connected to people with influential political connections. The NGO further stated that the government is not following the directions issued by the Supreme Court wherein the government has been directed to facilitate the rehabilitation of leprosy patients, provide basic facilities to them and bear the expense.
