Delhi’s lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday ordered immediate rehabilitation of over 900 families after their hutments were razed by the Railways in Mansarovar Park Metro line in northeast Delhi leaving them homeless in the shivering cold. The Indian Railway personnel carried out the demolition drive on Thursday morning to free the railway land from encroachers. Around 175 homes were demolished leaving 900 people homeless, which included 500 children and 250 of them were aged three or under. The l-G has asked the Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to arrange for the immediate rehabilitation of the people left homeless.
According to workers of NGO, Humana People to People India, who reached the venue, over 900 families were rendered homeless in an encroachment removal initiative by the Indian Railways without any prior notice. Among the many others was Sonia, whose shelter was razed few hours after she gave birth to her baby. Shivering and hungry by nightfall, the people burnt leftover items and waste to stoke a fire. Thirty one-year old Kakhua Devi, who has a two-month old baby, spent the entire night in the freezing cold.
“Around 10 am on Thursday, four JCB excavators reached and without giving us any time they started demolishing homes. All our household things and blankets got destroyed and we spent the night without any shelter with my two-month old baby,” she said. Fifty five-year-old Santari Devi who had received her Aadhaar card from the hands of the former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit cited the Government’s action as insensitive.
Chief Executive officer of the DUSIB, Amar Nath said that there are two night shelter homes set up by Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board in 2010, one for the men and one for the women which are inadequate to accommodate so many people. “The two shelter homes in total can accommodate around 100 people. For the time being as per the l-G’s order we are providing immediate relief materials like blankets and tents to the people. But in the long-term we have to plan out something,” he said.
Meanwhile, the l-G reviewed the situation and expressed anguish at the conditions of these families. “legal measures to remove these encroachers will be considered once there is better weather and alternate accommodation has been found,” the statement said.