Rat-hole miner refused offer of flat in Delhi’s Dilshad Garden: DDA

Rat-hole miner involved in Silkyara tunnel rescue, Wakeel Hassan, refuses DDA's offer of a 2bhk flat in Dilshad Garden after previous offer in Narela was rejected.

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Saturday said that Wakeel Hassan — one of the rat-hole miners involved in the Silkyara tunnel rescue operation — has refused to accept the agency’s offer of a 2bhk flat in Dilshad Garden, which is close to his former house, in northeast Delhi. DDA had demolished Hassan’s house on Wednesday saying that it was an illegal construction in the Khajoori Khas area.

A view of the house of Wakeel Hassan that was razed after a demolition drive at Khajoori Khas in northeast Delhi on February 29. (Raj K Raj/HT photo)

This was the second time Hassan refused an offer extended by DDA. DDA first offered an LIG flat in Narela to accommodate Hassan’s family. However, he refused the offer due to the location of Narela and the size of the flat. Hassan’s house was built over 700 square yards while the flat being offered by DDA was about 250 square yards in size. Hassan said he refused the second offer as he was unsure if the house would be a permanent accommodation for his family.

Hassan said that officials from the district administration had visited him on Friday, offering the bigger flat. However, when he asked if it was permanent accommodation, officials did not make any clear statement.

“They told me that I would have to visit the Red Cross officials and explained a procedure. I asked if it was permanent accommodation, but the officials said that it would solve the immediate crisis since we are camping outside our broken home as of now. I cannot accept such a makeshift arrangement. They will kick us out as soon as the media attention is diverted from the issue,” said Hassan.

In a statement earlier, DDA claimed that it conducted a drive to raze unauthorised construction on DDA land but was unaware that the house belonged to one of the rat miners who was involved in the rescue of 41 construction workers from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand last year.

“Delhi LG, VK Saxena, who had upon coming to know about his much-feted role in the rescue operation of the workers entrapped in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand, as a special measure asked DDA to provide him with alternate housing free of cost. The LG had done this, despite the fact that his structure that was razed, was illegal and unauthorized and the DDA had carried out the exercise in a fully legal manner for claiming the public land on which it was situated,” a DDA statement on Saturday said.

“Wakeel, however, rejected this offer with some unsavoury comments about the location of Narela, where more than three thousand families are already living, and insisted for an accommodation close to his place of earlier unauthorized residence. Upon coming to know of this, the LG had again ordered for an Indian Red Cross Society-owned 2 BHK DDA Flat in Dilshad Garden to be given to him on March 1. Dilshad Garden is in the vicinity of Wakeel’s earlier unauthorized house,” the statement added.