NEW DELHI: Amid tattered belongings and rubbled shanty, 80-year-old Pratima Devi is sitting on a cot, lost in the fluttering thoughts of what lies ahead and after a recent incident that snatched the roof above her head. An anti-encroachment drive by Municipal Corporation of Delhi demolished a small shack that she called home since she came to the national capital 35-years-ago in search of a livelihood from Nandigram in West Bengal.
Working as a waste-picker to make her ends meet, Devi will have to battle biting cold under bare sky amid freezing temperatures. However, what worries her more is the future of her more than 350 “children,” to whom she used to look after, day and night. Fondly called as “amma,” the octogenarian is a passionate animal lover and known in the community for her selfless work of upbringing over 350 pets and stray dogs.
On Monday afternoon, MCD officials demolished her shanty, where she had been running a shelter for community and abandoned dogs for around three-and-a-half decades, situated near PVR Saket in South Delhi.
Devi alleged that she was not given a prior notice or offered an alternate shelter facility before her home was razed. She also claimed sustaining physical injuries during the drive while accusing the MCD officials of confiscating her belongings that included utensils, clothes, bird cages, gas cylinder, blankets and pillows among others. “Look at my clothes, what am I wearing now,” Devi said while pointing out the tattered clothes.