300 houses razed at Delhi's Madrasi Camp
The Capital's civic agencies on Sunday morning razed over 300 structures in a demolition drive at the Madrasi Camp slum cluster in Jangpura, south Delhi, to facilitate civic works, especially cleaning the Barapullah drain in the run-up to monsoon, following a Delhi high court order on the issue.
Despite the drive being put on hold twice and eligible residents having been rehabilitated, the task force of civic agencies— comprising members from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)—deployed a heavy police contingent due to protests by residents. The drive started at 7.30am.
Anil Banka, district magistrate of South East Delhi, who oversaw the action, said it was carried out as per the court's directive. 'The Barapullah drain has become narrow; there were obstacles in cleaning the drainage. During heavy rains, the area floods due to these obstructions and its flow is interrupted. We have allotted flats in Narela to 189 families living here; 181 families were found ineligible,' he said.
In an order on May 9, the Delhi high court allowed the demolition of the slum cluster encroaching on public land near the old Barapullah bridge to facilitate timely clearance of the drain. The court directed DDA, MCD, DUSIB and Public Works Department (PWD) to hold two camps from May 10 to 12 to hand over possession letters of flats in Narela, and sanction loans for payment of ₹1.12 lakh, as per the Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015.
With the majority of residents living here immigrants from Tamil Nadu, the state government of Tamil Nadu offered help.
'Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi has been tasked with actively facilitating and overseeing coordination efforts and the residents of Madrasi Camp will receive every possible support without delay. As directed by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu... support will be given to those who choose to return to their native districts in Tamil Nadu. Comprehensive support, including assistance for livelihood and other essential needs, will be extended to them,' the Tamil Nadu department of information and public relations (DIPR) said in a statement.
Residents who have been living here, however, bemoaned the demolition drive and their relocation.
Kamala, 40, who works as domestic help at houses in the vicinity, said her family could not afford to find a house on a short-term notice in the vicinity. ' We were living here for more than three decades, my parents also used to live here, they died here. If we take a flat on rent nearby, it will be in the range of ₹12-15,000 per month at least; we don't have that much money,' she said.
She said that her family shifted some belongings to the flat allotted in Narela, but they were stolen.
Balaji, who is in his 50s, said that he has lived in the settlement his whole life. 'We got a flat in Narela, but we have not gotten any food there. Narela is really far, what work will we even get there? We are facing bad times right now. It has been two days since I last ate,' he said.
The main Opposition party in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), attacked the state government over the demolition drive.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Atishi said in a post on X: 'BJP leaders came to stay in Madrasi Camp and they got the people to fill out the 'Jahan jhuggy, wahin makaan' forms. As soon as the BJP government came, they bulldozed these slums. Only a handful of people were given houses, that too in Narela. Most of the people have come on the streets.This is the truth of BJP…'
However, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders defended the move, and said it was not an administrative move but a court order.
'BJP still stands by its policy of 'jahan jhuggi wahin makan,' but the slum settlement of the Madrasi Camp on the Barapullah drain had, for years, prevented proper cleaning of the drain. This had become a major cause of waterlogging in several kilometers of the surrounding area during monsoon season,' BJP Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva said.
He said that the order to raze the settlement was issued during the AAP's regime. 'The same AAP leaders who had earlier issued removal orders through the PWD are now trying to provoke slum cluster residents...our government provided them with alternative flats and a better life instead of simply displacing them.'
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