The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has directed the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to provide temporary housing, food, water and medical facilities to the families evicted from the Kogilu Layout at Yelahanka in North
Bengaluru.

KSHRC chairman Sham Bhat inspected the site on December 29 and interacted with the affected families.

The rights panel on Friday directed the Karnataka chief secretary and GBA chief commissioner to ensure the erection of tents on a nearby playground belonging to the state government and provide hot food and clean drinking water to the displaced. The order, which became public on Saturday, also recommended mobile toilet facilities and a mobile health centre.

“The KSHRC maintained that the state government had violated constitutional rights ranging from the right to life, dignity and rehabilitation to compensation,” a KSHRC
official said.

With the temperature in Bengaluru hovering between 15°C and 18°C, the commission expressed apprehension over the health of the evictees.

The GBA had initiated the demolition drive in the wee hours of December 20 to reclaim 15 acres of land from the encroachers. The land was earlier allotted to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s solid waste management department.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah has not been able to make good on his promise of shifting the evictees to new houses built under a state government scheme by January 1.

The government is still trying to finalise the eligibility criteria to identify the eligible beneficiaries.