By Waquar Hasan, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 16 Dec 2015: “I have lost everything along with clothes and utensils etc. I am a laborer, have been carrying cement bags for last 40 years to earn living. Policemen beat me. I suffered a wound in my leg. My entire belongings were destroyed under the wheels of bulldozers. They come to destroy our houses every year. We are always fearful that they may come anytime,” said Bilash Sharma, who originally belongs to Khagaria district in Bihar. Like Sharma, hundreds were rendered homeless on Saturday. During the demolition driver, a six-month-old baby also died.
What happened Saturday morning in Shakur Basti, a cluster of hutments in northwest Delhi, was predicted as it has happened earlier also. The jhuggi-jhopdi colony erected on either side of the railway track on government land has been removed earlier also.
It is not the first time when the slum faced demolition drive. In fact, the residents live with this fear whole year – bulldozers may run over their homes any time.
Shankar Mahto, an auto-rickshaw driver, has been keeping his belongings in his vehicle for last four days as his house was razed to ground. Now he is worried about his six children.
“For last three days, I have stationed my vehicle here, have not plied it on road. I put all my belongings in my auto. I have to pay the rent of the auto to its owner. I have six kids. I’m not able to give them education. I earn 500 rupees a day. I pay 350 as rent for auto. I am struggling to meet both ends,” he said.
He is angry that once again his entire documents were buried under the wheenls of bulldozers.
“I have been living here for five years. When our huts were razed down first time, my all ID (Identity) proofs were buried under crane. I made fresh identity proofs, but the same thing happened again with me. Luckily my election Identity card was in my pocket, it is saved now,” said Mahto.
Ramparwesh Sharma, a third-year student of political science, was born and brought up here in the slum area.
“No one knows when they came and pasted the notice. Justice is never done with dwellers of this slum. The politicians come and make tall promises. Not a single promise is fulfilled. Kejriwal had come at the night. After distributing tea and bread and blanket, he went. And he said that justice will be done within a week. When Congress was in power in Delhi, Kapil Sibal had promised us that every resident here will be given a house. But he never came back to fulfill the promise,” said Sharma.
Md. Farhan is also worried about his exam due in three months.
“My exam is due in March. How can I prepare for it? I am unable to study. They bulldozed my house. It is getting cold now. Where will we spend night?”
Welfare Party’s Delhi unit president, Siraj Talib, who also visited the area and met victims, said the government and Railways should have given them time and alternative before launching the demolition drive.
“We have seen there that injustice has been committed with them. These people have been living here for decades. I accept that the land belonged to the railways but the residents must have been rehabilitated before razing their homes. Both central and state governments had promised to give them houses before elections. Even today, they are giving them khichdi and blanket like beggar rather than any alternative place to live on,” said Talib.
