Nowhere to go, say slum dwellers a day after bulldozers raze shanties in Okhla slum
Sombre scenes unfolded on Saturday as many like Kumar stood in dismay at the site where the demolition took place. The slums, which were razed down, fall under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board's 675 identified clusters.
At the demolition site. Express photo “We lived here for decades. We spent our life’s savings to build our houses. But everything has been reduced to rubble now,” said Anil Kumar, a daily wager, as he scrambled through the debris around, looking for his belongings in a hopeless search. Kumar’s shanty was among those demolished on Friday in an anti-encroachment drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) at the DESU Colony of Okhla Phase 2.
Sombre scenes unfolded on Saturday as many like Kumar stood in dismay at the site where the demolition took place. The slums, which were razed down, fall under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board’s 675 identified clusters.
“We had a jhuggi number. This is a shelter registered by the DUSIB. We had electricity connections too. We spent from our own pockets to lay down water connections,” claimed Kumar.
The demolition followed a Delhi High Court order, dated August 27, which read, “The Court repeatedly passed the directions enabling the respondent officers to jointly conduct a meeting and to evolve further modalities for removing the unauthorised structure encroachment on public land.” A joint survey was conducted by officers of DUSIB and MCD on August 23 to identify the common boundary of jhuggies on streets under the jurisdiction of MCD and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). During the joint inspection, it was agreed that in a width of 20 feet which is the ‘Right of Way’ of public street, jhuggies can be removed. A joint inspection report was prepared and signed on August 27, said officials.
Nirmal Goaran Agni, convenor of a labour union body, Mazdoor Awas Sangharsh Samiti, pointed out that most people living here have nowhere else to go.
The 2015 Delhi slum rehabilitation and relocation policy states that any registered shelter should only be demolished after following the principles of rehabilitation and relocation. The policy also states that relocation should take place within a radius of 5 km and only when in-situ rehabilitation is not possible, he pointed out.
Human Rights Advocate Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir said, “There is a disturbing trend in the Delhi High Court where a private individual files a petition saying that his clean environment is getting disturbed due to an illegal settlement… the laws that guarantee rehabilitation for these slum dwellers are hardly being complied with.”
Even as half of the settlement has already been cleared, notices to residents of around 47 shanties in the other half have also been sent. The anti-encroachment drive has been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
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