Muhammad Kuddus, a resident of the slum, said he had lived there since 1983 and the hutments had been razed several times. If the DUSIB is satisfied and permits demolition, then the government will make efforts to relocate the slums, after clearing the land and handing it over to the land owning agency within six months.
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The demolition was carried out on Saturday in which over 1,200 slum units were removed, with the railways insisting that the action was necessary to clear the “encroachments” for expanding infrastructure.
Earlier, Mann attacked the Railways for the incident and said that even the Supreme Court has ruled that no such anti-encroachment drive could be carried out without providing for alternate arrangement.
Kejriwal, who visited the site at 2 a.m. on Sunday, ordered the suspension of two sub divisional magistrates for failing to provide relief to the hutment dwellers. “Tears being shed by Rahul reflect political opportunism”, said BJP Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay.
“We will try to help you. We will raise the issue in parliament”.
“Now they are busy blaming each other”.
Petitioner advocate Prem Pal Singh said the plea filed yesterday by a Congress leader had only sought rehabilitation of the people, who were rendered homeless in biting cold.
They also said when CM asked them about why proper rehabilitation measures were not taken up before demolition, the Railway officials said they will inform their board and ministry about it. Notices were sent and encroachers were adviced to vacate the land but they did not respond.
AAP sources said the matter will be raised in the Rajya Sabha by TMC and JD(U).
The chief minister said the Delhi government shifted occupants of 594 hutments peacefully to another place without any demolition last month.
Kuddus said the notice for demolition reached them only the previous evening. “It should be seen from a humanitarian angle and this demolition drive should not have been conducted in winter”, he added.
The drive, he said, was aimed at “teaching a lesson to Kejriwal”.
A bench of Justices J Muralidhar and Vibhu Bakhru had termed it a “pathetic act” as “peoples’ lives are concerned and we can’t be so informal”. “From now on, there will be no demolition without rehabilitation”.
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The former Union minister also took to twitter to target Kejriwal.
