As more slum dwellers told to move, Delhi CM assures justice

Indian Express

4 days ago

Reiterating that unauthorised slums will be removed from Delhi, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday said that the government has allocated a budget Rs 700 crore to provide accommodation to eligible slum dwellers.
'Whenever slums need to be removed for any reason, arrangements are being made to provide houses to the eligible residents…,' she said at the 'Faatak wali jhuggi' near the railway crossing in Shalimar Bagh on Sunday morning.
The Railways has issued a notice for the removal of the sum cluster, citing that it is located on railway land needed for the expansion of the Azadpur railway station.
'You will get complete justice. The Delhi government is fully committed to this,' Gupta told the slum dwellers.
'When a crisis came upon you, I came to meet you because the Delhi government is not in favour of removing slums without reason… If slums have to be removed for development projects or other legitimate reasons, the government will ensure proper rehabilitation for the eligible residents so they too can become part of Delhi's growth story,' she added.
This comes amid the recent demolition of unauthorised slums at Madrasi Camp, Bhoomiheen Camp, Jailerwala Bagh Camp and Taimoor Nagar in the Capital.
Taking on AAP and Congress, Gupta said that in the last 40 years, no development has taken place in Delhi's slums.
'These parties have only seen slum dwellers as voters and constantly tried to exploit them, while also damaging the city's geographical character,' she said.
The AAP, meanwhile, said in a statement, 'The CM has been constantly lying on this issue. First, on completion of 100 days of her government, she claimed no jhuggi will be demolished. And on the very next day, hundreds of jhuggis were demolished at Madrasi Camp. Later, thousands of people have to rendered homeless at Jailerwala Bagh, Bawana, Moti Nagar, Kalkaji etc.'
'We challenge Rekha Gupta to publish the list of jhuggis that have been demolished and names of people who have been given flats by them. They are trying to fool the people by giving flats to just a few of them and making others homeless,' the party added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, too, said on Sunday that hundreds of slum dwellers in Delhi are going through the pain of being rendered homeless with their houses being destroyed by the BJP government, as he claimed that this 'atrocity' exposes the ruling party's 'insensitivity' towards the poor and its 'arrogance of power'.
The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shared a video of his recent visit to Delhi's Ashok Vihar area where houses of several people were brought down by the administration.
The small houses in which they had settled their entire life were 'ruthlessly destroyed' by the BJP government, he alleged in his post in Hindi on X along with the video.