EVICTION OF ART

Odissi exponent Guru Mayadhar Raut was evicted from his government flat in Delhi's Asiad Village by the Directorate of Estates without looking at his contribution and his 90 years. Other artistes have also been given notice

- Vikram Kilpady

TRIGGERING CONTROVERSY

Padma Shri awardee and 91-year-old Odissi dancer Guru Mayadhar Raut was the first of the evictees

ON March 31 this year, Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan, the son of former Union Minister found himself evicted from the 12 Janpath bungalow allotted to his deceased father, as accountants and bookkeepers of the country spent a harrowing time balancing their books as financial year 2021-22 wound to a close. A few of the next day's newspapers carried the photos of portraits, busts of Paswan Senior and books lying strewn outside the house. The Directorate of Estates of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had done this after issuing sufficient notice. It was also pointed out by an official of the Directorate of Estates that Chirag Paswan himself had his MP flat and 12 Janpath had been allotted to Paswan Senior.

Posit this with the sight of a 90-yearold man unable to finish his lunch because the very same Directorate had to make good its promise to evict him from the Asian Games Village in Delhi on April 25. Delhi saw temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius that week. But the State knows no bounds when it has completed its statutory duties of issuing notice and answering petitions against it in court. A day before his and others' appeal against the eviction notice was to be heard in the Delhi High Court, Odissi exponent Guru Mayadhar Raut found that his home in official Delhi’s plush residential colony was being emptied of his belongings by the Directorate of Estates' personnel.

The others under the Directorate of Estates' harsh glare include Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj, now deceased, classical singer Wasifuddin Dagar, painter Jatin Das

Mohiniyattam dancer Bharati Shivaji