About 27 houses in Dubai, each said to have at least 200 people living inside them, have been cleared as part of a campaign by Dubai Municipality, it was reported on Monday.
The evictions in Al Mamzar in Deira are part of an initiative targeting about 78 overcrowded homes scattered across the emirate, Arabic daily Emarat Al Youm reported.
Khalid Sulaitin, head of the environmental emergency office at the Municipality told the paper that the evictions were just the first phase, adding that residents in each house were found living in corridors and courtyards, as well as being squeezed into rooms.
Power and water had been turned off at the houses following warning notices to owners that had not been heeded but Sulaitin said residents had brought in generators to continue to supply power.
He told the paper that Municipality inspectors had been tasked to evict all violators without exception, and were refusing to give any new deadlines to owners.
Sulaitin said that about 15 generators had been confiscated in the Mankhool, Satwa and Jumeirah neighbourhoods.
He told the paper that the internal structures inside the overcrowded homes were public health and safety risks.
He said gas cylinders were being stored in the bedroom, while inspectors also found unsafe electrical wiring.
Eleven people died when a fire ripped through a two-storey villa complex in Dubai, which was housing hundreds of labourers, in August 2008.
The workers, employed in different companies, were asleep in the complex behind the Naif Police Station when the fire started in the early hours.
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