‘We Are Poor, Where Do We Go?’ Delhi’s Evicted Slum Dwellers Ask

Why are slum dwellers of Shakur Basti and farmers near Yamuna in Delhi being subjected to arbitrary eviction drives?

(Photo: Arnica Kala/ The Quint)

Cameraperson: Akanksha Kumar
Video Editors: Prashant Chauhan & Deepthi Ramdas

On 31 May 2019, residents of Shakur Basti in Delhi woke up to bulldozers moving in. Within a few hours, at least a dozen jhuggis (slums) near the railway line were razed to the ground.

Twenty-nine-year-old Yasmeen was sleeping in her kuccha house when she was screamed at by the railway police. It was Alvida Jumma, the last day in the holy month of Ramzan and Yasmeen was observing roza (fast). Yasmeen, a TB patient, was not able to physically remove all the belongings inside her one-room jhuggi.

Before she could even respond to the sudden eviction drive, the bulldozer broke the chulha right outside her house.

“I said, ‘Let me remove some of our stuff’. They (police) said, “Move”, then pushed me and barged in with a crane. I was keeping a roza (fast) and was all alone, how could I have moved all this stuff by myself?” 

Yasmeen, Resident, Shakur Basti

On a day when temperatures soared to almost 47 degrees in the capital, not a single person in Shakur Basti had any clue about the sudden eviction drive.

In a locality that comprises mostly of daily wage labourers, truck and e-rickshaw drivers, as news spread, panic-stricken people began to hoard all their belongings, keeping them outside their house fearing they would be targeted next.

For Yasmeen, the entire world had turned upside down within minutes with everything including her children’s books and school bags buried under the debris.

Books and stationery were strewn all over the place as locals of Shakur Basti rushed to save their belongings during the eviction drive.(Photo: Akanksha Kumar/ The Quint)

Sakeena Khatoon was trying to pull out her utensils when the wooden roof made of bamboos fell on her. Sakeena kept on requesting the police to allow her some more time so that she can keep household items at a safe place but no one listened.

Her entire jhuggi was pulled down by a JC machine. Only a cement drainpipe lay as is close to the demolition site. Whatever was left, Sakeen had kept it inside the pipe for now. She even sustained an injury on her right shoulder and was in a state of shock when this reporter met her.

Sakeena Khatoon sustained an injury in her right arm(Photo: Akanksha Kumar/ The Quint)

“They pulled down my house and then brought in a bulldozer. We are poor, where else can we go?” 

Sakeena Khatoon, Resident, Shakur Basti

Sakeena and Yasmeen are not the only ones who had to bear the brunt of an arbitrary eviction drive in India’s capital.

Farmers in Delhi’s Mallah Gaon have been growing crops near the Yamuna river for several decades now. They too had to face the consequences of eviction when bulldozers were called in by the DDA (Delhi Development Authority) to crush their crops on the fields in May 2018.

Kamal Lal is one such farmer who had to incur an annual loss of Rs 2 lakh after he was stopped by the DDA from growing vegetables on his land. Though some farmers were allocated plots in Bawana, Kamal Lal is still waiting for the DDA to fulfill its promise of rehabilitation.

Kamal Lal was stopped from growing crops on his land by the DDA in May 2018.(Photo: Akanksha Kumar/ The Quint)

“We have been farming here since last 60-70 years. We have been paying <i>lagan </i>(land tax) to the (cooperative) society till date but we don’t know whether dues have been passed on or not. The DDA just comes and acquires land forcefully.”&nbsp;

Kamal Lal, Farmer, Mallah Gaon

According to an April 2019 report by the Housing and Land Rights Network, an NGO that tracks incidents of displacement:

Around 2 lakh people were evicted forcefully across India in 2018.

Does that mean the government should revise its housing and rehabilitation policy with lakhs of migrants coming to metropolitan cities every year?

In case of Shakur Basti, the railways have clearly ignored a March 2019 order by the Delhi High Court which had clearly stated to make provisions of rehabilitation before undertaking demolition.

The Quint had mailed a questionnaire to the PRO of Northern Railway that has jurisdiction over the Shakurpur railway station. We will update the copy as and when there is a response. Similarly we are still awaiting response from the DDA as well regarding rehabilitation of farmers in Mallah Gaon.

At the heart of this debate are concerns regarding livelihoods of people who came to Delhi in search of jobs and have valid documents as proof of residence.