Saudis kept out of Chanakyapuri despite seven-year itch

NEW DELHI, December 8: Encroachments on the land earmarked for the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Delhi's diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri ha...

NEW DELHI, December 8: Encroachments on the land earmarked for the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Delhi’s diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri has prevented the Union Government from keeping its promise to that country for the past seven years. The Indian Government was gifted some land in the diplomatic enclave at Riyadh on which the Indian Embassy came up. Successive governments here have been unable to reciprocate the gesture.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs say Saudi Arabia had been offered land at another site but had declined the offer as it did not suit its purpose. “The land in question is prime land flanked by Jesus and Mary College, the Italian Embassy and the Embassy of the State of Qatar. But the encroachment on the land is an old one and in keeping with a Supreme Court order, the encroachers have to be rehabilitated,” an official said.

Political patronage to those occupying the land is apparent. The area comes under the Minto Road Assembly constituency and posters of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and BJP candidate Kirti Azad are still pasted on the door of each jhuggi. The residents of the jhuggis are largely kabari wallahs who go from embassy to embassy each day and collect scrap. Old refrigerators, air-conditioners, coolers, tables, chairs and cupboards lie in the open and trucks come regularly to cart them away.

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Though the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has put up several boards warning that the encroachment on the land is illegal and the encroachers will be penalised, it does little to deter the residents of the area.

The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has given several phone connections in the slum cluster. “Apart from phones, we have voter identity cards, ration cards and even token numbers. Even we know we have to leave this place as the land belongs to somebody else, but we want the Government to give us land somewhere else. There are around 700 families here now,” says Radhey Shyam, a resident.

Alarmed by the way in which the slum cluster is expanding, the CPWD erected a six-feet-high barbed wire fence around it in an attempt to prevent further expansion. The residents are happy to live within the fence but have constructed makeshift toilets outside it. This, despite the slum wing of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) having constructed a public lavatory there. On another portion of the land outside the fence, a marriage pandal was erected today for a wedding.

The personnel at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia chose not to comment on the issue saying they did not want to embarrass the Indian Government. But after the attack on the staff of the Saudi Embassy earlier this year, they are keen to have their “own place” with adequate security.

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According to MEA sources: “The Saudi Embassy personnel are on rented premises at South Extension which is an open area and not so safe. But the MEA has sanctioned a payment of Rs 1.8 crore and the money must have reached the department concerned for the rehabilitation of the slum-dwellers. As soon as the local slum welfare department arranges for land at another site, the slum will be moved out,” sources said.