Settlers to Govt: Find us new location

DISPLACED settlers from the Garden Hills eviction are appealing to the Government and their leaders to help them resettle at another location in the National Capital District.
Hata Bau, 50, from Okapa in Eastern Highlands, told The National that the eviction at Garden Hills settlement last week had taken them by surprise.
Bau said after the eviction, some of the settlers were left homeless without food, water and clothing and a means to support themselves.
He said those who had not left the area were being assisted with food, water and clothing by Mormons, who are located close to Garden Hills.
Bau said his family along with others were sleeping by the roadside because police were still coming back to the area to remove their make-shift shelters after the eviction.
Idai Aizano, 57, also from Okapa, said he had lived at the Garden Hills settlement for 37 years and owned rental houses in the settlement, all of which went up in flames during the eviction.
Aizano said he had been renting living space from K250 to K300 a fortnight with tenants residing in the rooms but when the eviction happened, the tenants left without paying their rent and their belongings were left behind which were burned.
He said those who had relatives who were willing to take them in had left but many had nowhere to go and were just sleeping by the roadside.
“We are not foreigners, we are from Papua New Guinea, but the police are treating us like we are not from this country,” Aizano said.