Life goes off the rails

Lakhs of slum dwellers living alongside railway tracks in Delhi are racked with anxiety and uncertainty ever since the Supreme Court ordered the removal of about 48,000 jhuggis in the city within three months

Anxiety and uncertainty have gripped over two lakh slum dwellers residing along roughly 70 km of railways tracks in the city, following a Supreme Court judgment ordering the removal of 48,000 jhuggis within three months.

On the one hand, the slum dwellers are faced with the terrifying prospect of losing the roof over their heads in the middle of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is showing no signs of abating. On the other hand, the situation has placed them yet again in the middle of a political tug of war, with its origins in one of the oldest poll promises made to them in successive elections since the 1990s: the right to reside in one’s own home in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

“The government had said jahan jhuggi wahan makaan... look what has happened now. Instead of maakan [house] there is a threat of being uprooted from the place where we have lived all our lives,” rued Teju Pandit, a resident of a slum located next to a railway track in Old Delhi.

Residents of Pul Mithai are at a loss over where to relocate. Many of them have been living in the area for over 30-40 years, with some having spent all their lives next to the railway tracks. They have termed the circumstances tanashahi [dictatorship].

Subhodh Bind, a street vendor, said: “We cannot understand the reason behind this emergency order. The [SC] order came out of the blue and even states that nobody can interfere. How can we not be heard by the courts? What are we supposed to do now? It looks like authorities are more concerned of having a “clean view” than being concerned about us.”

Mr. Bind is among the nearly 500 people (constituting 53 families) living next to the track in Old Delhi. The families have “moved around” the area since 1984 as a result of regular demolition drives carried out by authorities. But the possibility of being completely uprooted from the area is a first, they said.

During a pandemic

An eviction during an ongoing pandemic is also what residents are worried about. Poonam Devi, a daily wage labourer, said: “For five months we have been in distress due to the lockdown. We were dependent on the food being distributed, but now, even that is an issue. There is no work and we are all under heavy debt. This order is an added pressure and we are completely at a loss.”

Twenty-six-year-old Chandni Devi, a homemaker, said she had sent two of her children back to their village as expenses were piling up and it was becoming impossible to stay in the city.

“There is hardly any work here now and most of us are borrowing money and somehow existing. If we are evicted, how are we to survive? If we are forced to stay on rent then that will be another issue. If we cannot earn, how will we feed our children and educate them? The authorities need to rehabilitate us properly or else allow us to keep living here,” said Ms. Devi.

Poonam (30), who has a small shop in the slum, said: “I have been running this shop for a long time. Even if we are rehabilitated to some other area, what good will it do for us? We will have to start from scratch again. It looks like we have been hit from both sides. The poor are basically dead and over.”

Prem Prakash Bharadwaj, a resident of a slum cluster in Jor Bagh, said: “We have lived here for many years and have adjusted. Most of us work within 5-6 km from our homes. If we are suddenly rehabilitated to some place in Bawana, how are we supposed to continue working?”

“Even though we have not received any notice yet, we want to continue staying here only. Where do we move amid this pandemic? As it is, the COVID-19 outbreak has affected our incomes terribly. We are surviving somehow,” he added.

Iza-ul Mohammad (19), a daily wager, said: “We have lost all work due to the pandemic. The government and courts should have at least considered this. Also, if lakhs of slum dwellers are suddenly out on the streets during a pandemic, how will the authorities manage?”

Hoping for a resolution at some level, Mr. Bind said: “Now, everything depends on the appeals that are made and we can only request the government to allow us to continue living here till proper rehabilitation is provided. What more can we do apart from waiting or dying in the process?”

Report on solid waste

Taking note of a report furnished by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority regarding non-compliance of municipal solid waste management rules by the Indian Railways, the apex court in its order dated August 31 had directed removal of slum clusters that existed in close proximity to railway tracks on a 70-km stretch.

“We direct all stakeholders that a comprehensive plan for removal of jhuggis be made and executed in a phased manner. The encroachments in the safety zones should be removed within three months and no interference, political or otherwise, should be there and no court shall grant any stay with respect to removal of the encroachments in the area in question,” the Supreme Court had said.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, however, claimed that a conservative estimate had been provided by the Railways and that nearly three lakh jhuggis are set to be affected by this order.

Soon after the order, the AAP, BJP and the Congress locked horns over the issue.

War of words

AAP on Friday said that the BJP wants to demolish every slum in Delhi. AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha said that if the BJP government does not provide permanent houses to the people, then the AAP government would do it.

“The Supreme Court was hearing a case only on the cleanliness of Delhi, but the BJP’s railways ministry secretly filed an affidavit and demanded the removal of slums. The BJP government, in its affidavit to the SC, has noted that due to the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government, slum demolition is not taking place. We take this admission in pride,” Mr. Chadha said.

The Delhi government-run Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) on September 10 also wrote to the Northern Railway, requesting it to not demolish any jhuggis without providing alternative accommodation. “You are requested not to demolish the jhuggis on Railways land without providing alternative accommodation as per provisions of the Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015,” read the letter.

The DUSIB also said that the jhuggis proposed to be demolished by the Railways are protected under the provisions of the Delhi Laws (Special Provision) Second Act, 2011.

The BJP, meanwhile, hit out at the Delhi government stating that AAP considered slum dwellers a “vote bank and never as human beings” and issued an “ultimatum” demanding that those residing next to the railway tracks be shifted to vacant flats.

“If the Delhi government does not shift the slum dwellers in the 52,000 houses lying vacant within the next 90 days, then we will shift the slum dwellers in those houses. The Chief Minister only pretends to be a well-wisher of the slum dwellers and that is why the Delhi government deprived them of the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,” said Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta.

The Delhi Congress on its part has blamed both the BJP and AAP for neglecting slum dwellers.

It said that while both parties in their election manifestos had said they would relocate slum dwellers to alternative venues or give them in-situ flats, nothing had been done on the ground.

Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar said the DUSIB was constituted under the Sheila Dikshit government with a clear mandate to provide housing to residents of JJ clusters. “Under this scheme, the Congress government started construction of over 64,000 flats across Delhi but sadly 90% of these flats are lying vacant as the Kejriwal-led government has not bothered to allot them to the needy,” Mr. Kumar said.

While the issue of regularising unauthorised residential colonies had formed the core of the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the in-situ rehabilitation of slum clusters was a significant issue during the 2015 polls.