Delhi assembly discusses razing of rat miner’s house

Five AAP MLAs who participated in the discussions demanded that the demolition should not be carried out.

The demolition of a rat-hole miner’s house in Delhi resonated in the Delhi assembly on Friday where urban development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said no one liked to live in JJ clusters but people started living in these clusters because they had no other alternative.

Family members of Wakeel Hasan, one of the rat-hole miners involved in the rescue operations to evacuate labourers trapped at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand in November last year, as their house was razed after a demolition drive conducted by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at Khajoori Khas in northeast Delhi on Thursday. (Raj K Raj/HtT Photo)

“The house of a man who risked his life to save people in the Uttarakhand Silkyara tunnel was demolished by DDA which falls under the central government. After the issue grabbed headlines, the LG promised a house to Wakil Hassan. But what will happen to others whose houses have been demolished,” asked Saurabh Bharadwaj who was replying to a short-duration discussion initiated by AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi on ‘Demolition of houses of poor across Delhi by central agencies like DDA, ASI, L&DO, and Railways’.

The minister said 675 JJ clusters established before 1 January, 2006 are protected from demolition under the DUSIB Act unless they are in situ rehabilitated. “All the governments have considered them protected and respected the law of the land. In the last two years, continuous demolitions have been carried out in Tughlakabad, Mehrauli, Punjabi Bagh, Mayur Vihar, Dhaula Kuan, Shanti Van, etc. I have asked in writing on whose orders demolitions are being carried out, but the departments have not responded. What changed in the last 1.5 years that large-scale demolitions have been started by the agencies?” asked Bharadwaj.

Five AAP MLAs who participated in the discussions demanded that the demolition should not be carried out. “Where will the people go?” asked Bharadwaj.

On Wednesday afternoon, the DDA demolished the house of Vakil Hassan, the rat-hole miner, in the Shriram Colony area of Khajoori Khas in northeast Delhi. This was the only house demolished in the area on Wednesday as officials said it was the only one where no legal stay was obtained from any court. Officials aware of the matter said that DDA was “unaware” that the house belonged to one of the rescue workers, adding that the house was built on encroached land.