Over 150 families left homeless after demolition drive in Yelahanka
Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited says the demolition drive is conducted to clear encroachments on government land
More than 150 families were left homeless after government authorities carried out a demolition drive at Kogilu Layout in Yelahanka early on Saturday, stating that the houses encroached government land earmarked for solid waste management projects.
Residents said the drive started around 4 a.m., when earthmovers arrived and people were asked to vacate immediately. Many alleged they were not given enough time to collect their belongings or important documents.
“They came with the equipment and told us to vacate the houses. We were not even given time to take our documents,” said Jaitun Bi, an elderly woman whose house was among those demolished.
“After the drive, the families, including pregnant women and children, are now staying in a nearby government school playground,” said Shazia A., adding that they tried reaching MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, but he refused to listen to their concerns.
Another resident, Sayed Mustafa, said electricity supply to the area had been cut three days ago. “We have Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, ration cards and even electricity bills that carry this address. We have been living here for 30 years. How can we be evicted without any prior notice?” he asked.
According to residents, more than 100 families have been living in the settlement – Waseem Layout and Fakir Colony, for over 30 years, depending largely on seeking alms or other informal work for their livelihood. With their shelters demolished, families were seen sitting in the open, unsure of where to go or how to manage during the cold nights.
Members of Dhudiyuva Janara Vedike, a forum of working people, arranged food for the displaced families. The members demanded that the government make immediate arrangements for shelter, provide permanent housing under the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme, and compensate families for the loss of their homes.
Govt. land occupied illegally: BSWML
In an official release, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) said the demolition drive was conducted to clear encroachments on government land. BSWML Chief Executive Officer Karee Gowda said around five acres of land near Kogilu Bande, earmarked for the BSWML projects, had been illegally occupied.
“The land forms part of Survey No. 99 of Kogilu village in Yelahanka Hobli, which measures a total of 14 acres and 36 guntas. The BSWML plans to develop facilities on the site, including a bio-methanation plant, animal rendering and incineration units, a tender coconut waste processing unit and a sanitary waste processing facility,” the official said.
According to the BSWML, more than 150 unauthorised temporary sheds and houses had come up on the encroached portion of land.
A team led by senior officials cleared the structures and reclaimed the land. The drive was carried out with police protection and involved personnel from the BSWML, the Fire and Emergency Services, North City Corporation, the Revenue Department, the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force, along with 70 marshals and around 200 personnel.
The BSWML said the guidance value of the reclaimed land is around ₹15 crore, while the current market value was estimated at nearly ₹80 crore, adding that the land would now be used for the proposed solid waste management projects.
Authorities in Bengaluru, India, demolished over 400 homes in Yelanka all Illegal Fakir Colony—where poor Muslim residents live—and Waseem Layout at 4 a.m. on December 20, 2025, with police protection, displacing nearly 3,000 from the Muslim community.
Around 150 police officers, including high-ranking officials, were deployed at the location.
No prior notice or compensation was given, leaving families with women, children, and elders amid debris in winter cold, their vending carts also destroyed.
Officials claimed illegal encroachments near a pond, despite residents' documents like voter IDs.
4 AM bulldozers: Bengaluru demolition leaves Muslim fakir families on the streets, 3,000 homeless
Anvar Dayal and Aslah Kayyalakkath
By early Saturday morning, when most of Bengaluru was still asleep, Fakir Colony and Waseem Layout in Kogilu village were already losing everything that made them home.
Sitting out in the open, wrapped in thin shawls against the winter cold, an elderly Muslim woman kept repeating the same words, slowly, deliberately, as if saying them out loud might make someone finally listen.
“We are fakir. We have been here for thirty years. We have voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards, PAN cards. We have all the documents that are required. And today they did this to me,” she told Maktoob.
She had been sitting there since morning. There had been no food, no water, no shelter.
“We haven’t eaten anything since morning. We have little children here with us. Look at us in the winter. We have been voting for this government for so many years. We have ten votes at home,” she said.
She pointed to where her house once stood. “They did not let us even take one item from the house. Our carts were crushed by bulldozers.”
For decades, this is how life had worked for many families here. They begged. Some children performed on the roads to bring back a little money.
Most days were spent asking strangers for survival.
“We go to beg. Our children go out to perform on the road and bring money. But mostly we go to beg,” she said.
There had been no warning. “We had no idea this would happen. If we had some idea, we would have taken some stuff. The children were out. I was all alone at home.”
Her voice dropped when she spoke about what came next. “For the sake of Allah, tell us where shall we live or give us a place to live.”
She did not speak of amenities, only of survival: “We didn’t even have a bathroom. We did open defecation. That’s how we were living. This used to be a forest. Yes, we did get ration, but there was no water facility.”
A few metres away, another resident stood with his children, watching strangers walk past what used to be their neighbourhood.
“They have demolished our houses. Now we are on the roads with our children. There is no one in our support,” he said.
No official, no local representative, no authority had come to speak to them.
“No one has come till now to support us. Only media is coming. There is no one to hold our hands. Let us see what will happen.”
He spoke of the scale of what had just happened: “There are 125 houses. All the area has been cleared. We have got no compensation. We have been living here since 20 years. We want justice.”
For Amir, another resident, the demolition did not just take away walls and roofs, it erased an entire life.“We have been living here for 28 years. This is our land; our entire life has unfolded here. We grew up here. I got married here 12 years ago,” he said.
He listed the documents he believed should have protected him. “We have all the documents, Aadhaar cards, ID cards, PAN cards, and ration cards, and we have voted in elections too.”
What hurt the most was that this had not come suddenly. “We have been facing harassment for the past three years, and yesterday they cut off our electricity and internet.”
In Kogilu village near Yelahanka in Bengaluru, officials of the Greater Bengaluru Authority, with heavy police protection, began the demolition drive early Saturday morning. More than 400 houses in Fakir Colony and Waseem Layout were razed.
According to GBA officials, residents had encroached upon land adjoining a small pond near the Urdu Government School. The residents, however, told Maktoob that they had been living there for nearly three decades, possessed valid documents, and were never served any notice before the demolition.
The drive began around 4 am and left nearly 400 families homeless. Four heavy earthmovers were deployed to flatten the structures after officials cleared LPG cylinders, stoves, and other flammable materials from inside the houses. Nearly 150 police personnel, including senior officers, were stationed at the site.
GBA officers claimed that the houses were constructed without official permission. They further alleged that most residents had migrated from Hyderabad and parts of Andhra Pradesh and belonged to the Durvish community. Residents disputed these claims, saying they had lived in the area for over 30 years.
They said they possessed valid Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, and other documents, and earned their livelihood through begging and odd jobs. They added that more than 500 children from the area study in private and government schools, and that families here have regularly participated in elections.
Residents also alleged that district administration officials visited the site during the demolition but did not offer any clarification, assurance, or relief to the affected families.
By the end of the operation, more than 3,000 people from nearly 400 families were left out in the open, without homes, without compensation, and without any clarity on where they would go next.
As night fell over Kogilu, families gathered around the rubble of their lives, holding on to documents that proved they existed, even as the place they called home no longer did.
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