Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to halt the demolition drive carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Tughlaqabad area in South Delhi that started early on April 30.
The apex court ruling has left about 2.5 lakh inhabitants of the 1,000-odd residential facilities in Bengali Colony around the historic Tughlaqabad Fort at the mercy of the bulldozers from ASI and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Although the proverbial Damocles’ sword was hanging on their heads after the Delhi High Court’s April 24 order to do away with the encroachments in the area, residents could little realise that their ordeal would start soon.
The high court bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, while hearing pleas against rampant encroachment in Tughlaqabad Fort, warned it will order personal appearance of top officials including the ASI director, MCD commissioners, the sub-divisional magistrate and senior police officers in the event of non-compliance with its directives.
The morning of April 30 turned out to be a nightmare for the residents of Tughlaqabad who woke up to see heavy police and paramilitary deployment along with huge bulldozers outside their homes and within no time they went shelterless.
Most of the people in the affected area belong to financially weaker sections of society and are from mixed communities. They work as domestic workers in affluent households in the city.
The displaced residents claimed that they had purchased these houses by paying money to the police, ASI and the fort authorities. Many of them had bills and other documents to prove that they had lived at the same address for over two decades.
In 2016, the Supreme Court served notices to around 1,000 families and ordered the ASI to remove encroached structures around Tughlaqabad Fort but the residents claimed that they never knew of the notices until January 11 this year.
Lal Mohammed, a 40-year-old laborer whose house was demolished on Sunday morning, was residing there with his family of eight. Now he has been forced to live without a shade on his head fighting the vagaries of inclement weather in the national capital these days.
He said, “We woke up to the roar of the bulldozers. They came and demolished almost 1,000 houses in one go.
“It was raining, and they didn’t even think twice. Now my kids are not being able to go to school, and we are not being able to cook and eat properly. What should we do madam?” he asked in dismay.
“Everybody comes, asks questions and nothing happens”, he said.
Furthermore, there appears to have been no dialogue regarding compensation for the losses incurred, nor regarding the rehabilitation of affected individuals.
“It would be better for us to receive some form of compensation to rebuild our lives,” Mohammed said.
With heavy rains exacerbating an already dire situation, many residents opted to vacate the remains of their demolished homes to a securer alternative shelter.
But for Mohammed, there is no alternative than to stay on on the remains of his shattered home.
While the demolition was in progress on Sunday, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the affected residents, expeditiously approached the apex court for an urgent hearing. He raised the issue before Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who directed him to bring it up before Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s bench in Court Number 7 the next day.
Advocate Gonsalves presented his case before the bench comprising Justice Khanna and Justice M.M. Sundresh, who consented to provide him an expedited hearing and directed him to notify the Delhi government about the matter. The esteemed justices then took up the case for consideration.
Gonsalves asserted in the court that the residents being evicted had been residing in the area for a period spanning four decades and were now being compelled to vacate their homes.
He implored the court to halt the ongoing demolitions until adequate rehabilitation arrangements could be made for the affected individuals.
The bench, however, opined that halting the demolition would result in several ramifications, and hence refrained from granting such relief. The court expressed apprehension regarding extensive encroachment activities occurring throughout the national capital, highlighting that 60% of the land under the Delhi Development Authority’s jurisdiction has been encroached upon, and the Delhi government does not have sufficient land available for rehabilitation purposes.
Moreover, the bench suggested that if the affected residents desired to relocate to the Narela region, they could request the relevant authorities to provide them with appropriate accommodation in that area.
“In case you intend to move to the Narela side, we can direct them to make suitable arrangements for your relocation,” the bench stated.
The hearing was adjourned to Tuesday, and notices were served to the Centre, the ASI, and DDA.
Standing on a mountain of rubble which was once her abode, 32-year-old Sonia, who came and settled here from Uttar Pradesh, said: “I worked long shifts as a nurse to save money and build a house. The address on the Aadhaar and ration cards of most residents is this place. We have voted in this locality. But they are now calling us encroachers.”
The displaced residents also claim that the area’s Member of Parliament Ramesh Bidhuri’s house also comes under the category of encroachment land that requires demolitions yet his house stands in the area with heavy police security outside.
“If they are removing houses from encroached land, they should also demolish Bhiduri’s house and not only poor people,” said an affected resident.
Meanwhile, an uneasy calm prevails in the area and its inhabitants are clueless on what the future holds for them.
