Petition to Ministers of Housing, Environment and Social Integration on asbestos panels removal from EDC/Ex CHA houses
27.04.2017
A delegation of inhabitants of Site Telfair, Moka together with LALIT members submitted a petition on Tuesday 19 April 2017 to the Minister of Housing , Mr S. Soodhun, demanding the safe removal and carting away of asbestos panels from EDC/ex CHA houses. This is in line with the specific recommendation of the Truth and Justice Commission’s Report (2011).
The petition signed by 38 inhabitants, one per family concerned, asked for the replacement of the asbestos houses with concrete houses. The petition was organised in a political context of real estate projects destroying agricultural land on a massive scale. So, the land, instead of being used for decent housing for people and so as to create sustainable jobs is being used for speculation.
In fact Site Telfair is in the middle of Moka Smart City project. The ENL group promoters have taken the hideous step of buiding a reinforced concrete wall around Site Telfair to restrict people’s movement as well as to hide poverty from the eyes of rich people coming to buy villas nearby in the region.
The petition was also addressed to Minister of Environment, Mr E. Sinatambou and Minister of Social Integration Mr A. Wong.
Since 2002, LALIT has been campaigning for the right to housing, and also for the removal of asbestos panels in housing estates, and today our actions for safe housing and new social housing is linked with our ongoing campaign against the destruction of land by private businesses with Lepep Government blessings.
LALIT’s campaign against asbestos houses is being extended on a national level to other regions in Mauritius.
PETITION TO MINISTERS OF HOUSING, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION
We, inhabitants of EDC/ex CHA houses, Telfair, Moka address you as Ministers forming part the National Committee on the Removal of Asbestos on our concern on the existence asbestos panels in the houses where we lived. We are thus exposed with the potential threat that asbestos dust represent to our health and to the environment.
We therefore call on you to ensure that government:
- Takes on the responsibility of replacing asbestos houses with safe and durable houses in line with government declared policy for a clean and safe environment for people to live.
- Takes on the responsibility of removing asbestos panels lying around or being used unsafely in all EDC/ex-CHA estates and to be discarded in a responsible manner.
- Takes responsibility to offer decent and safe housing to people instead of encouraging and even subsidizing real estate businesses in grabbing good agricultural land to set up gated communities. We hence call on government to ensure that people are living in safe houses in a clean environment.
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