Thousands of people who were evicted from their homes in recent demolition drives and informal sector workers who were denied their livelihood without any rehabilitation on Tuesday gathered at Jantar Mantar to raise their voices against the “Bulldozer Raj”.
Protesters, including those from Gyaspur Basti, Khori Gaon Faridabad, Haryana, Ghaziabad, Agra, Dhobi Ghat Camp, Kasturba Nagar, Bela Ghat etc who faced demolition notices ordering them to clear the land of any “unauthorised encroachment” joined the protests.
In a press statement, the protesting organisations demanded that there should be no eviction without complete rehabilitation and that legal action must be taken against “erring” officers.
The demonstrations were jointly staged by the Mazdoor Awas Sangharsh Samiti (MWWS) and the All India Central Council of Trade Unions.
They condemned the “growing trend of dispensing justice using bulldozers rather than the procedure established by law”.
“The government is forcibly snatching the land of poor Dalits and tribals from across the country and selling them to a handful of capitalists, and continues to vandalize the settlements by bulldozers like a storm,” the Convenor of Mazdoor Awas Sangharsh Samiti said.
By creating an environment of hate in the name of encroachments in Delhi, the convenor said that these demolition/eviction drives are being fuelled with communal agenda and thus trying to break the unity of the working class.
More than 6 lakh people have been evicted from their homes and nearly around 1.6 crores of people are now faced with the threat and uncertainty of being displaced, according to the organisation.
The joint groups claimed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) announced the eviction of 63 lakh houses in Delhi-NCR but there was not a single word about rehabilitation.
Under the Central ministry of housing and urban affairs, DDA an autonomous body owns 80% of the land housing slums while the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which is under the state government owns the rest.
These demolitions have violated the many “alternative shelter” provisions despite having Delhi High Court stay order in some cases.
The protest was marked by slogans of “Bulldozer raj band karo”, “Shahri gareebon ko adhikaar dena hoga”, “bina punarvaas visthapan band karo”, “jis zameen par basein hain, jo zameen sarkari hai, wo zameen humari hai!”
To stop this modern-day slavery in the form of forcible displacements, a memorandum with the evicted people’s demands was also submitted to the Prime Minister and the Urban Poor Minister to provide complete rehabilitation before displacements and to provide adequate notice to those that are to be evicted.
