An anti-encroachment drive was carried out on Wednesday near the Yamuna floodplain area in Delhi’s northeast Shastri Park, leading to protests from local residents against the authority.
“To maintain law and order and prevent any disruptions during the demolition, a heavy police force was deployed, along with paramilitary personnel,” a senior police official said.
Pinky Kashyap (21), a five-month pregnant woman with a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter to take care of, said, “Where will I go with my child in this condition? We don’t have enough money to rent a house or a room. My husband earns only `12,000 a month and, in a city like Delhi, it is extremely difficult to afford rent, along with other expenses.”
Her husband works as a shopkeeper in Greater Kailash. Seema, in her 50s, has lived under the fear of displacement. That fear has now become a reality.
“We have lived in constant fear that someone might come and ask us to leave. We are poor, where will we go with our children? If we could afford to pay rent, we would not have been living here,” she said.
According to a local, around 200 families residing there were served the eviction notice on March 2.