Infant dies in railways’ demolition drive in Delhi; govt. faces Opposition’s flak

A fresh confrontation between Delhi government and the Center has erupted after railways demolished the slum cluster to clear “encroachments” and the baby died there on December 12, evoking angry protests from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who wanted murder case to be registered.

AAP also tried to target the Centre by raising the issue of demolitions carried out by railway police, which comes under railway minister Suresh Prabhu. Parliamentarians of the Trinamool Congress had also joined AAP in the protest.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, who accompanied Rahul Gandhi to Shakurbasti, said the party has set up three relief camps in the area to provide meals, blankets and medicines. “If any land is required for whichever railways projects, they should give us a schedule and the Delhi government will fist rehabilitate the slum dwellers before demolition”, the CM added. Meanwhile, the decision to demolish the slum was taken at a high level meeting chaired by railway officials and attended by Delhi government officials.

Kejriwal said when he spoke to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, “he said he was not aware of this operation”. The report submitted by the department of forensic science and toxicology of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital said the injuries were ante-mortem, which means the injuries were reported before death.

Taking note that the counsel for railways failed to produce the relevant communication based on which police went to demolish the Shakur Basti slum on Saturday, the court asked them to file their report on plans to rehabilitate the residents before December 16. “We will raise the slum-dewellers’ voice in Parliament and offer assistance of every kind to them”.

AAP sources said the matter will be raised in the Rajya Sabha by TMC and JD(U).

On Monday, the Delhi government again blamed the central government and the railways for the “inhuman” anti-encroachment drive carried out in the absence of a rehabilitation programme for those evicted.

Here are some pictures of Shakur Basti two days after the demolition:. “It is the central government’s policy that till alternate arrangements are made, no demolition can take place”. The demolition was carried out to teach a lesson to these people who had voted for Arvind Kejriwal. We came to know about it only after it began.