Delhi CM to meet Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu

Muhammad Kuddus, a resident of the slum, said he had lived there since 1983 and the hutments had been razed several times. NOTICES WERE IGNORED: RLYS Arora said the slum dwellers were given first notice for vacating the land by March 14, 2015.

The railways, in a statement, said encroachments had to be cleared to make space for a new terminal in the basti.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Railway Board and Delhi Government on demolition of slums in Shakur Basti and Belagaon in the national capital.

An anti-encroachment demolition drive by the Railways on December 12 at Shakur Basti left a six-month-old child dead and thousands of people homeless on the coldest night of the season.

“The cause of death of the seven-month old baby was shock as a result of chest and head injury due to blunt force impact, the report said”.

Since the demolition, the hutment dwellers are living in the open, at the site, under canvas tents.

Senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, appearing for Delhi government, agreed to it and said, “what needs to be done, we will do as we are not shying away from our duty”. We will fight for you and won’t let this gross injustice happen to you. He even talked to the slum people and promised that they will provide every kind of assistance to them. “But now they are busy blaming each other”, he said. According to Mr Kejriwal, Mr Gandhi was still a “kid”.

However, the Chief Minister slammed the railways for undertaking the demolition drive when temperature saw a sharp drop.

AAP sources said the matter will be raised in the Rajya Sabha by TMC and JD(U). Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced this following a meeting on Monday evening with railway minister Suresh Prabhu.

“This is an inhuman act. It is central government’s policy that till alternate arrangements are made, no demolition can take place”, he said.

The demolition drive in Shakurbasti sparked off a political slugfest with the BJP and the AAP passing the buck on the issue, and the Congress raising the pitch to gain lost ground. The demolition was carried out to teach a lesson to these people who had voted for Arvind Kejriwal.

“We were not given any information about the demolition”. You know we are not in power, it is Modi ji and Kejriwal ji who are at power.