Railways: 47,000 jhuggis holding up Rs 260 crore projects in Delhi

Retrieval of land from encroachers has been tardy business. Official data available with the Railway ministry shows that in the last three years, it has been able to retrieve only 112 hectares across the country.

The report for Delhi is worse. Between 2003 and 2005, Railways paid Rs 11.25 crore to the Delhi government for removal of 4,410 encroaching settlements or slum dwellers from its land in the Capital. But till date, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has been able to remove only 297 jhuggis.

In Delhi, track length of nearly 70 km is affected due to encroachments on both sides, posing safety hazards for encroachers and the railways.

The Rs 110-crore Shakurbasti coaching terminal was just one of the affected projects. Work on a Rs 156-crore “grade separator” connecting the Bathinda line with the Ambala line has not taken off since 2000 due to encroachments in Amar Park Colony (Daya Basti) and Lawrence Road area of Delhi.

“Historically, any attempt at removing encroachers has met with resistance from local politicians in Delhi, some of them known nationally and were also ministers,” a senior Northern Railway official said.

Under the law, encroachers and police have to be notified before eviction. Officials have told Railway minister Suresh Prabhu that this was what was done in the Shakurbasti case too.

“There is no provision of officially informing the local slum board or the government, but the authorities concerned were in the know,” said a senior railway ministry official, adding that the procedure followed for the drive in Delhi was no different from what is followed in the rest of the country in such cases.

The Northern Railway area — Delhi included — is the worst hit with 210 hectares officially listed as encroached. The South Eastern Railway, which has its headquarters in Kolkata, comes second with 159 hectares of railway land encroached.

The Railways has a total vacant land bank of around 4.58 lakh hectares.

“Most encroachments are in the approaches to the stations in metros and big cities. For these encroachments, Railways carry out regular surveys and take action for their removal. If the encroachments are of temporary nature (soft encroachment) in the shape of jhuggis and squatters, they are removed in consultation and with the assistance of Railway Protection Force and local civil authorities,” an official said.

For old encroachments, action is taken under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. Actual eviction of unauthorised occupants is carried out with the assistance of state government and police.