Friends, Ahibannapur is a small slum area near Naveen Galla Mandi, Sitapur Road, Lucknow. Nearly 450 families have been living here, reportedly for 20-25 years now. They are very poor people, who lead a hand to mouth existence. They lived on a land that presumably belonged to the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA). But many of these 3000 people even had got such important government documents like Voter ID Card, Ration Card, Bank accounts, electricity connections etc. even for this address. Yesterday 16/07/2010 at about 11 AM, officials from the LDA along with those from the District administration, Lucknow suddenly came here and not only got these people displaced from their houses, they also burnt those houses and destroyed all their belongings. Thus these extremely poor people are now completely helpless and are now on road. Moreover, now many of them have nothing to feed themselves, nor any proper clothing. This is thus a moment of real help to them. The Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) is trying its best to help these people. But we also need all your help and support for this noble cause. Thus we request you to kindly give whatever support you wish to give either as food materials, clothing, monetary support or any other possible way. For this you can either contact me at 94155-34525 or Mr. Himanshu at 93059-63744 and Mr. Abhishek at 95326-56677. If you wish to directly provide some monetary support, you might transfer it at Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) bank account No 392600010084694 (in India) or at A/c No- 3926002105000983 in the name of IRDS for foreign currency. Both the accounts are at Punjab National Bank, Gomti Nagar branch, Lucknow. All I can assure is that your money will reach the right hands. Any physical material can also be sent at 5/426, Viram Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. Once the immediate needs are taken care of, we shall go into the legal details and shall also try our best to get the best possible justice for these poor people in their prevailing circumstances. Dr Nutan Thakur, Secretary, IRDS, Lucknow India # 94155-34525
