People collect their belongings after a demolition drive carried out by Railways in Shakur Basti of Delhi on Sunday, December 13, 2015. (Press Trust of India photo)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will take up the
demolition drive in Shakur Basti and death of a baby at the site with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu as he was not satisfied with the ministry officials' response.
"In the meeting, Railway officials told the CM said that there is no rehabilitation scheme before demolition. The Chief Minister completely rejected the claims of the Railways," said a Delhi Government official.
After meeting the evicted dwellers, Mr Kejriwal said that those people had been living there since 1992-94, but in one moment, Railway demolished the shanties.
"Those who have done this (demolition of shanties) are not humans, instead they are animals and bestial," Mr Kejriwal said.
Sources said that the Railway officials failed to give satisfactory response in the meeting with the Delhi Chief Minister.
"Railway officials failed to give satisfactory response as to why demolition drive was carried out when asked whether it was an emergency project," sources said.
They added when Mr Kejriwal asked why proper rehabilitation measure was not taken before demolition, Railway officials said they will inform the Board and Ministry about it.
"CM was not happy with the Railway officials' response and he would take up the matter with Railway Minister," sources also said.
The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the demolition of 1200 slum units at Shakur Basti in West Delhi and planned to move court seeking FIR against those who ordered the action citing the Special Provision Act according to which no demolition can be carried out until government needs land urgently.
The Railways, on its part, said the removal of "fresh encroachment" was necessary for expanding the infrastructure and that the action had been taken after three notices, the first one with the March 14, 2015 deadline.
A six-month-old baby died in one of the slum units, which the railways insisted had "nothing to do with removal of encroachments", claiming that it occurred two hours before the demolition started at 12 pm.
Police said prima facie the baby died due to suffocation after a heap of clothes fell on it when the parents were preparing to clear out of the jhuggi and hence no case was registered.
The baby's grandmother, however, said it was wrong on the part of the railways to deny any connection of the demolition drive with the death of the child, saying "the officials never informed us in advance".
"They had made a plan to demolish the shanty and had surrounded the area. There was chaos and when police started chasing us, we started running and in that moment the luggage fell on the child and he died after that. Had they informed us in advance, we would have not come in their way," the victim's grandmother said, adding "As police started chasing us and throwing our items, we panicked. We want rehabilitation."
Mr Kejriwal, who visited the site late last night, slammed the Railways for undertaking the demolition drive at a time when the temperature saw a sharp drop. He ordered officials to immediately provide blankets and food to those who were rendered homeless following the drive.
Earlier in the day he told the reporters, "A child has died here. It is a very sad thing and I think that a murder case should be registered against the officers. Compensation will be taken from them. It should be deducted from the salaries of the officers who have conducted these raids."
In a series of tweets, Mr Kejriwal had said, "Railways have demolished 500 shanties in this extreme cold. One child has died. God will never forgive them. Had instructed the local SDM to arrange for food and shelter. They did not arrange the same, so have suspended them."
The chief minister said that he had spoken to Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was "not aware of this operation. He was also shocked."