DELHI: Bulldozers have strong arms, which scoops earth, demolishes concrete and clears debris with much finesse. The bulldozer carries out this work with its arms at the ground level while its brain sits in some dusty corner of a government office. Even the person at the steering wheel of thebulldozer have faintest of the idea about the implications of the order it’s carrying out.
If one needed an evidence, the case at hand is the demolition of the house of Waqeel Hassan, the leader of the group of rat miners who saved lives of 41 tunnel workers in Uttarakhand just a few months back. The incident took place in the Khajoori Khas area of North-East Delhi. When politics has become battle of optics, the image of Waqeel Hassan has travelled from being felicitated by BJP leaders for his act of bravery to that of a BJP-appointed Lieutenant Governor’s apparatus demolishing his house.
Hassan and five other members of the rat-hole mining team reside in Khajoori Khas, while the rest are from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Their specialized mining methods were tangential in successfully clearing the wreckages inside the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand. The workers were trapped for approximately 17 days after a section of the tunnel collapsed on November 12 last.
While Delhi’s Raj Niwas has often pitied and criticised the state government of not giving attention to governance, its own building arm, the Delhi Development Authority for sure did not apply its mind in ordering the bulldozer to raze Hassan’s house. It’s not just a black-and-white case of an unauthorised construction on a government land being demolished. There are sufficient areas of grey.
There were several other houses in Shriram Colony of Khajoori Khas which were left untouched. Why was then Hassan targeted? A newspaper report had an interesting answer to it. The report said, “This was the only house demolished in the area on Wednesday as officials said it was the only one where no legal stay was obtained from any court. Officials said that DDA was “unaware” that the house belonged to one of the rescue workers”
When every other house in the colony, by DDA’s own admission, obtained a stay from the courts what was the hurry to demolish the lone house which did not have a stay order. Any sensible human mind would have thought and cross-checked on the facts and antecedents of the residents before ordering the bulldozers to demolish a lonely house. The Lieutenant Governors administration certainly erred here and now his image managers are fire fighting offering variety of shelters to the rat miner.
The generally reticent Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena had to come on record to say that Hassan will be compensated for the action. “I have been told about it and we will definitely compensate. He will be provided a house too,” the L-G noted. But Mr Lieutenant Governor would such knee-jerk reaction ensure that another such ‘thoughtless’ demolition doesn’t take place in the city?
Those living in ‘illegal’ houses in the national Capital are victims of the nexus of the land mafiosi and corrupt government machinery. Waqeel Hassan’s family had been living in that demolished house for a while with legal power and water connections. They came to ‘own’ the house through some kind of a legal documentation process. Will the Lieutenant Governor get examined how does such ‘malpractices’ take place with some kind of sanction from the concerned officials?
While it’s good of Saxena to have offered alternate shelter to Hassan’s family, which he has so far refused to accept, he should also show the will to clean the Aegean’s Stable that the district level offices are. It’s unlikely that he would stir the hornet’s nest especially with the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away. Given the circumstances it would be prudent of Hassan to accept whatever government offers.
Sidharth Mishra
Author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice