New Delhi: Chief minister Rekha Gupta issued orders on Friday to all departments, including the railways and Delhi Development Authority, that no slum will be demolished in the city unless its residents are provided with pucca houses.Gupta said Delhi govt would amend the existing policy on JJ clusters, if required, and even move court to protect the housing rights of slum-dwellers. She added that nearly 50,000 flats built years ago for the economically weaker section (EWS) in outer areas of the city under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission would be renovated for slum dwellers.“Slums in Delhi are an inseparable part of the national capital, with residents living there for decades,” Criticising the opposition for using slum-dwellers as a political vote bank, Gupta asserted her govt was making sincere efforts to ensure their rightful recognition as residents of Delhi. BJP-led govt has been under severe attack from the opposition for the demolition of a few slum clusters in the past few months. While the govt claimed that the clusters were demolished on court orders, AAP accused BJP of going back on its electoral promise of “jahan jhuggi, wahan makan” and said govt could have moved court to stop people from being rendered homeless.Gupta said regular meetings were being held with various departments to provide permanent settlement to slum-dwellers. She added that the EWS houses were never allocated, rendering them uninhabitable over time.“The chief minister has announced that these flats will now be handed over to slum dwellers under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban. DUSIB and DSIIDC were allocated Rs 732 crore for housing, which remained unutilised and was to be returned to the Centre. Central govt has now approved their use for the renovation of these dilapidated flats,” said an official.Gupta accused the previous govts of treating slum dwellers as a vote bank. “These settlements neither have drinking water nor roads, pavements, proper drainage and sewage system,” CM said.AAP Delhi convener Saurabh Bharadwaj said CM and her party were “bluffing” the slum dwellers for many months now. “If Rekha Gupta is actually serious about what she is saying, she should ask central govt and its agencies to withdraw the cases against these JJ clusters in the high court and Supreme Court,” Bharadwaj said. “On one hand, these agencies are going to the courts against poor people; on the other hand, they are not even providing them with any alternative places to live,” he claimed.
