As the slum dwellers braved chilly and starvation, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi descended on the demolition website and focused each AAP authorities and the Centre and guaranteed the homeless that he’ll struggle their “battle”. “His party has perhaps not told him that the railway ministry comes under the Central government, and not Delhi government”, he tweeted.
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Indian Railways demolition drive: Following a child’s death in Shakurbasti, the Delhi Police on Monday washed its hands of the incident, claiming it took place about two hours before the demolition of hutments in the area took place.
Prabhu said two notices had been served on the people living there and they were again told two days before the demolition to vacate the land.
“Why they (AAP) are protesting?” You know we are not in power, its Modi ji and Kejriwal ji who are at power. The report submitted by the department of forensic science and toxicology of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital said the injuries were ante-mortem, which means the injuries were reported before death.
According to media reports, the post-mortem report also points out that the death occurred during demolition drive by the Railways following injuries due to some blunt object.
Meanwhile, Prabhu defended the demolition, telling the Lok Sabha that the child died even before the operation began.
“We have also given Rs 11 cr to Delhi Slum Urban Improvement Board under Delhi government for relocation and rehabiliation of slum dwellers removed from railway land”, he said. Police said the baby is believed to have died due to suffocation after a heap of clothes fell on it when the parents were preparing to clear out of the jhuggi and hence no case was registered. The government is planning to give a plot of 15 square yards to each of the affected families near Outer Delhi’s Bawana Industrial Area, they said. Enraged over the demolition drive that has been blamed for the death of the 6-month-old baby, Kejriwal had sought a meeting with the Railway Minister over the issue. It said the demolition was carried out after three notices, the first one with a March 14, 2015 deadline.
The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the demolition of the 1,200 slum units at Shakur Basti in West Delhi. “We will fight for you…” “What season they chose to remove the people from here…during this cold season…What was the national emergency that impelled them to demolish the shanties?”
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An infant also died on Saturday although officials insisted that the death had nothing to do with the razing.
