In the middle of Bakkarwala village on the outskirts of West Delhi, stands the distinctively-coloured building.“Agar kisi ko udhar jana hota hai, toh kude-ghar se hokar jana hoga.” (To go to these flats, you must pass the garbage dump yard),” said a local bystander.
We could see the buildings’ shattered structures as we made our way along the pavement away from the foul waste heaps and approached the main entrance gate. Narendra Singh, one of the guards monitoring the building’s security and upkeep, claimed, “This facility has the hub for the junkies.” He said that this place has been deserted since its inauguration, there was still no water and electric supply.
After Union Minister Hardeep Puri declared that the Rohingya refugees will be relocated there, the 240 flats built for the economically weaker section gained attention. Later, the government reversed course on its choice, which was followed by a political spat between Delhi government and the centre. The 240 apartments for the EWS population were officially opened on June 29, 2013, by the late Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s then-chief minister.
As Narendra Singh unlocked the door of one flat, dust flew from the gate. The walls were moist, the floors were covered with filth, and the windows were cobwebbed in every apartment. Singh claimed that these apartments were ignored by the authorities; in fact, the bulk of them have cracked visors.
He added that the authorities did not even prune the parks built for apartment residents. He led us to the overgrown, increasingly jungle-like college parks. When it rains, according to Singh, snakes and rodents frequent these rooms.A cafeteria was also created by the government in the back of the apartments, but it has remained empty ever since it was constructed.
These are not the NDMC flats, according to an NDMC official. In West Delhi, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board built 240 apartments. The JJ slum residents of the NDMC area constructed these flats. However, they are still empty because NDMC hasn’t received them yet.
Since these apartments were built, according to the residents, no one has been relocated here. This is not the first time these flats have made news, according to a resident who asked to remain anonymous. The government designated these flats as the corona centre in 2020, but neighbours complained when they learned that corona positive patients from Markaz were also sent to the corona centre.
The atmosphere at the refugee camp in Kanchan Kunj, next to Kalindi Kunj in Delhi, was palpable. The enthusiasm, that followed the minister’s declaration that the Union government was setting up suitable housing for Rohingya refugees in Delhi, immediately subsided.
Minara, a 40-year-old single mother who came to the refugee camps in Kanchan Kunj in 2012, said that she was responsible for raising three children alone. When we learned that the government was thinking about giving us better house, we were thrilled. However, we eventually found out that these flats were actually our detention centres, Minara said.
At least 53 families resided in makeshift homes in the camp. Minara, who lives in small space, said, “At first, our country was unsafe, and now our houses are also unsafe. When it rained, water poured from the roof, and mice, insects, and reptiles got inside via the tent holes.”
She also lamented the camps’ insufficient access to electricity and water. “We frequently have to go miles to collect a bucket of water because there is only one water tap for a thousand people,” she added.
Similarly, hundreds of Rohingya have spent the past year residing in the cramped, insufficiently-ventilated tents near the Yamuna at Madanpur Khadar in Delhi.
On June 13, 2021, a mysterious fire decimated their prior tents, which were erected on government-owned land in Uttar Pradesh. Over the course of the night, officials from the Delhi government and the Delhi Police transported them to a nearby area of land owned by an NGO, the Zakat Foundation of India.
Mohammed Salimuulah, a Rohingya living in the Kanchan Kunj camp, was concerned about his children. “If a fire starts within one of the camps, there is nowhere to hide. Twice before, we had lost our homes, and just as we were about to find adequate housing, politics erupted in our faces,” he said.
Salimullah claimed that our identity as refugees prevented us from obtaining a respectable job. Our children are unable to get good education. He said that we also have refugee identification cards from the UN Human Rights Council.
They helped us with dry rations, but it was sparse and only seldom delivered to us. Salimullah questioned whether or not life would be better in the Bakkarwala apartments. However, given that we now know they were used as prisons, it would be better to live in slums than be imprisoned in these buildings.
When it was alleged that two Rohingya camps in Delhi and Haryana lacked basic amenities like drinking water and restrooms in 2018, the Supreme Court issued an order requiring the government to produce a full status report on the situation within four weeks.
“Aside from these two locations, Delhi has a large number of slums without even the most basic amenities. A bench that included Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud remarked, “We cannot limit ourselves to only these two Rohingya camps.
The neighbourhood organised a protest outside the EWS apartments after it was revealed that the Rohingyas will be moved to Bakkarwala. “I feel that Rohingyas have a chronic criminal record and they are known to incite riots, so admitting them here will be a significant problem for our security,” said Anil, a local resident of Bakkarwala.
Another local person, Amarinder Singh added, “I have faith in the Home Minister, and this decision obviously contradicts the recently enacted CAA law, which clearly states that illegal immigrants who are members of the Muslim community would not be granted asylum.”
The Union Home Ministry then clarified that “illegal immigrants” from the Rohingya group will be housed in a detention facility until they are formally deported from India. The Union Home Ministry has additionally asked the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government to designate the current Rohingya tents as a “detention centre.”
The Delhi government, however, lacks the jurisdiction to make such a decision, according to the AAP, who asserts that the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the Home Ministry is responsible for doing so.
Ramjas University of Delhi political science professor Tanvir Eijaz said “The recent controversy over the future of the Rohingya population in Delhi is not unexpected given the context of India’s politically polarised terrain. As a result of their widespread persecution, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recognised the Rohingya as “refugees” and granted them certain rights.
Some view the current dispute over the Rohingya Muslims as a humanitarian issue, while others view it as a severe issue because they don’t want people from other countries to rely on the state’s GDP when India already has significant problems feeding its own citizens “, he went on.
“I consider that the government should focus on developing a comprehensive refugee policy. Most developed countries have a robust universal policy that addresses concerns relating to the status of refugees. To completely allay worries about issues like this, the Center must bring up this subject as soon as possible,” added Aeijaz.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, there are around 16,000 Rohingya refugees in India. According to the reports, the number is estimated by the Indian government to be over 40,000, with the majority residing in and around Jammu.
The Rajya Sabha was informed by the Centre last year that “illegal Rohingya immigrants” are residing in Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, and Kerala, among other states and union territories.
Around 1,100 Rohingyas were in Delhi in the beginning of 2022, and another 17,000 lived in other parts of India, said Rohingya rights activist Ali Johar. They mainly worked as rickshaw pullers, hawkers, and manual labourers.