<B>By Pauline ETIENNE</B>

The “sudden” appearance of slums on the side of the motorway at Bois-Marchand is a sad symbol of what has been happening in Mauritian society over the past few years. It points at the great problem of indifference that is making more and more victims everyday. These houses were built by ex-squatters after they were evicted from the NHDC complex in Terre-Rouge. Everyday, people drive by this ghetto without even seeing it, without even realising that it is just the outward aspect of a more in-depth problem of our society. People are living in distress and their fellow-citizens are totally indifferent to their plight… and it becomes even worse when you realise that the same lack of concern also characterises the government.

Astonishingly enough, these ex-squatters obtained the green light from the authorities to settle on the side of the motorway. Aware that these people had nowhere to go, the authorities rented a plot of land to the 29 families concerned for the next 54 years. Then, the Trust Fund for the Rehabilitation of Vulnerable Groups gave them some corrugated iron sheets and wood to build their shacks.

This could be seen as an act of “generosity” by the government if these people were not living in unhygienic and extremely precarious conditions – most of them do not have a job and do not even know where to go to find one. Just after the elections in July 2005, some people at the ministry of Housing promised the squatters a place to settle down. As a result, they were just parked on the edge of the motorway and no one is giving them a thought anymore…

It is indeed the duty of the government to be responsible for giving the most vulnerable members of society a roof over their heads. But it should also make sure they are given the means to move forward in order to achieve a better standard of living in the long-term. This is not what the government has been doing in this case. And the apathy of the public has not helped at all - the general indifference makes it easy for the authorities to “forget” their duty to treat all citizens equally.

If the government does not do this duty for humanitarian reasons, it could at least do it for economic reasons. If we want to be more cynical – nevertheless dramatically realistic – we would realise that such ghettos are things of third-world countries that do not attract many tourists. At least not the ones Mauritius targets.

But, here again, the reaction of some people at the ministry of Housing is astonishing – and so disappointing - “Maybe we should build a wall so as to keep them out of sight.” So, when people are living in total distress, we just hide them behind a wall to make sure tourists keep coming… And we are not even sure that the income and benefits produced by the arrival of tourists will reach Bois-Marchand...

Meanwhile, people keep settling in the new “village”. These people live in such distress that they prefer to have any kind of roof over their heads rather than to sleep in the street. We can only hope that the measures taken in the budget will gradually ease the situation of the most vulnerable. But we should not forget that the first step is to face the problem and not try to hide it behind a wall…