NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday alleged that the BJP-led central government intends to demolish all slums in the national capital. ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that slums in the city are being demolished ‘in an inhumane manner’ without providing rehabilitation for the affected slum dwellers.
In a meeting on January 9, the AAP alleged the Centre directed land-owning agencies like the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to clear all slum clusters from the national capital.
AAP leader Atishi remarked that during elections in Delhi, whether for the Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, or MCD, the BJP consistently promises housing to slum dwellers at their current locations.She noted that before every election, the BJP releases advertisements, visits slums, and fills out forms, assuring homes to each slum dweller.
Atishi further stated that during the MCD elections, right before the polls, the Prime Minister distributed about 500 flats to people in Kalkaji, as publicized in a full-page newspaper advertisement.This ad promised that every slum dweller in the city would receive a house within a 5-kilometer radius of their current residence. However, soon after the election, while the Prime Minister was handing over the keys of the flats to people in a housing complex, the BJP-led DDA ordered the demolition of adjacent slums.
The minister asserted that before elections, the BJP promises houses to people in slums near their clusters, but post-elections, their true intentions surface; they either demolish these slums, relocate residents to footpaths, or send them to areas 50 kilometers away, lacking job opportunities, schools, and transportation.
She also shared that on November 9, there was a meeting at the Prime Minister’s office under the chairmanship of his advisor Tarun Kapoor. Officials from all land-owning agencies in Delhi, such as the MCD, Railways, DDA, etc., attended this meeting. They were reportedly instructed to completely remove jhuggis (slums), ensuring that no slums remain.
“Every government has a policy for JJ clusters for in-situ development of the area by building flats to rehabilitate them. If the land belongs to the central agency, it is the duty of the Centre to rehabilitate the slum dwellers,” Bharadwaj said.