NEW DELHI: With over 46,000 Jhuggi-Jhopri (JJ) clusters housing thousands of people, situated dangerously close to Delhi’s vast railway network, an Amritsar-like tragedy is waiting to happen.
What makes matters worse is the fact that the encroachers, who make up the vote bank of power-hungry politicians, have political patronage that makes it next to impossible for the Indian Railways to demolish these clusters near the tracks.
“Removing encroachments without the help of the state government is not possible. That willingness to take strong steps is required. Earlier the government said that all the JJ clusters that were made before 2006 would be regularized. Now that timeline has been extended till 2016 which makes it worse” said an Indian Railways official.
These clusters are not just a threat to the lives of the people residing in them, but also to the railway passengers, as maintenance of tracks is hampered by JJ dwellers using them to defecate.Thanks to lack of political will and the lax attitude of authorities, around 150 acres of Railway land worth several thousand crores has been encroached upon in the national capital. According to a conservative estimate, over two lakh people reside in these units. The maximum number of dwelling units on Railway land have came up in northwest Delhi, where Shakur Basti falls.
According to Railway records, around 16,000 dwelling units exist in eight clusters in northwest Delhi and Shakur Basti is one of them. This is the spot where the Railways carried out a demolition drive three years ago, which unfortunately resulted in the death of a seven-year-old girl. Predictably, the issue snowballed into a major political slugfest.
With only 100 dwelling units, the New Delhi district has the minimum encroachment on railway land.
Around half of the 46,000 units, around 22,000 of them, came up in the Railway Safety Zone, putting everyone at risk, including the residents and rail passengers.
“As per Railway safety regulations, 15 metres of land on both sides of the track is considered the safety zone for smooth and secure movement of rail traffic. Any structure in this zone poses a serious threat,” added the official.
Railway officials also say that many times while passing through these congested areas the trains have to slow down, and petty criminals take advantage and steal from passengers and disappear into the JJ clusters. Trespassing continues to be the biggest killer on railway tracks, with nearly 50,000 people being killed in the last three years. Incidentally, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani blamed trespassing as the reason for the Amritsar accident that took place on the night of Dussehra when the victims were watching the effigies of Ravan burn down.