Saurabh Bharadwaj: Delhi government's cabinet minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the Union Territory Railway Department is illegally demolishing slums that have been built in many places in Delhi for many years. In the same series, the Railway Department had also put up a notice two days ago to demolish those slums in many slums in different areas of Delhi.

He said, as soon as the Delhi government came to know about the matter, on the orders of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the DUSIB department of the Delhi government approached the High Court regarding this matter. Where the Hon'ble Judge took cognizance of the entire matter and accepted that the slums were being demolished illegally and put a stay on the notice issued by the Railway Department for demolition of the slums.

He said, last year also, in a similar way, different agencies of the Central Government had demolished many slums in Delhi. Lakhs of people were forced to live on the streets after being rendered homeless.

After the High Court ordered a stay on the notice of the Railway Department, Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj reached the Flying Club JJ Camp near Sarojini Nagar and met the people living in the slum and informed them about the stay imposed by the court on the notice of the Railway Department.

He told that there was an atmosphere of happiness among the people after hearing this news and people expressed their gratitude to the Honorable Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Delhi Government. It should be noted that all these slums are listed slums as per the records of the DUSIB department of the Delhi Government. As per the law, these slums cannot be demolished before giving permanent houses to the people living in the slums in exchange of their slums.

Issuing a statement in this regard, Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that it is the law of the Delhi government that wherever there are slums in Delhi, before demolishing those slums, those people will be given permanent houses to live in and according to the law, whichever agency will demolish the slums, it will be the responsibility of that agency to first build permanent houses for the people living in those slums somewhere nearby, only after that those slums will be demolished.

He said that we put this point before the court as well. The Hon'ble High Court accepted our point and stayed the notice issued by the Union Territory Railway Department for demolition of the slums. He said that if the Railway Department wants to demolish these slums, then it should first build permanent houses for the people living in these slums in place of these slums. Until all the people living in the slums get permanent houses, as per the law, these slums will not be allowed to be demolished.

Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the Union Territory Railway Department had pasted such notices in slums at many places in Delhi such as Flying Club JJ Camp, Delhi Cantt slum, Loha Mandi slum, Rajiv Gandhi Camp, Buddha Nagar and Indrapuri slum, etc., whereas these slums fall under the slums listed in the DUSIB department. Despite that, the Union Territory Railway Department has been repeatedly trying to demolish these slums in an illegal manner.

He informed that today the Hon'ble High Court has stayed the notice issued for demolition of six such slums. It was informed that about 5 months ago in January 2024, the Railway Department had made full preparations to demolish the slum by putting up similar notices in this slum. At that time also, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj had reached the spot and stopped this illegal action.

It was said that today once again the Union Territory Railway Department wanted to make the same illegal attempt again, but once again, on the instructions of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, an appeal was made in the High Court against this illegal act and the court accepted our appeal and put a stay on the notice of the Railway Department.

AAP said that last year too, at various places in Delhi, various agencies of the Central Government like Railway Department, DDA, L&T etc. had illegally demolished the slums that had been settled for many years. These mainly include the slums near Okhla Fort, Sundar Nursery slum and Goshia Colony slum and many other slums. In these slums, about two to two and a half lakh people lived in the slums near Okhla Fort alone. Lakhs of people, including children, old people, women, were forced to live on the streets after being rendered homeless.

It was said that this type of illegal act of the Central Government not only destroyed the houses of the poor slum dwellers, but also disrupted their lives, their employment, their children's education. The Delhi Government has been fighting for the rights of the poor people living in these slums in the past and even today it fought for the rights of these poor people in the Delhi High Court, the result of which was a stay on the notice of the Railway Department. The Delhi Government will continue to fight for the rights of these slum dwellers in the future as well, until these slum dwellers get permanent houses in place of their slums.

(press release)

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