Live
- Lathi-charge on students in Hazaribagh kicks up political row; demand for CBI probe grows
- India’s growth to rebound to 7 pc in 2025-26: Report
- Delhi has decided to elect BJP CM, oust AAP govt: Harsh Malhotra
- Congress-led UDF winning streak continues in Kerala, ruling CPI-M-led Left suffers reversal
- The Key Players Behind IPL: Discover the Franchise Owners and Their Success Stories
- Harris and Gill join Sydney Thunders for WBBL 11
- PKL Season 11: Bengal Warriorz coach Surve aims for maximum points to secure playoff spot
- Manchu Vishnu Warns Media Over Family Controversy, Mohan Babu Incident
- Atul Subhash’s Suicide Sparks Outrage; Estranged Wife, Judge Accused of Harassment
- Malaria cases, deaths in India decline by 69pc between 2017-2023: WHO
#DelhiDemolition leaves slum dwellers homeless
Highlights
Hundreds were rendered homeless in the winter chill and a six-month-old baby died after the authorities demolished hutments built on railway land in the national capital, witnesses and police said.
New Delhi: Hundreds were rendered homeless in the winter chill and a six-month-old baby died after the authorities demolished hutments built on railway land in the national capital, witnesses and police said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the railways of demolishing some 500 hutments on Saturday, "in such cold", leaving hundreds of poor -- men, women and children -- shivering in the open. The Delhi government said the demolition violated judicial orders, and were carried out without informing it.
Kejriwal, who visited the site at 2 a.m. on Sunday, ordered the suspension of two sub divisional magistrates for failing to provide relief to the hutment dwellers. Railway officials who met Kejriwal later said the land was cleared as the encroachment was effecting operations and they had an order from the National Green Tribunal.
Divisional Railway Manager Arun Arora said the baby died before the drive started. An angry chief minister tweeted on Sunday: "A child died. God will never forgive them. "Heart rending scenes. How (could) our own countrymen do this to our poorest fellow countrymen?"
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury added: "How can authorities resort to mindless demolition leading to the death of a child, leaving slum dwellers to suffer, roofless in winter?" The baby's grandmother Rubiya Khatoon said some objects fell on the girl when they were in a hurry to leave the shanty.
"We were asked to vacate... The children were sleeping. In the hurry to leave, some things fell on the baby. We took her to hospital but she could not survive," she said. A railway official said the hutments were built illegally on railway land and the shanty dwellers had been told to vacate the land to make space for a new railway line but they chose not to.
"In Delhi itself, there are 47,000 encroachment on railway land and because of that there are serious problems in (railway) operations," said Arora. "There are 22,000 encroachment which are in the safety zone, which is 15 metres on both sides of tracks. There are clear instructions that there will be no unauthorised structure.
Next Story
ADVERTISEMENT
