On the footpath along Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, near Jhandewala Mandir, several families have placed their cots under the foot-over bridge, along with their cooking utensils and other meagre belongings. Just two months ago, they lived in pucca houses only a few meters away, where over 200 jhuggis were torn down on 19 February 2024. In continuation of multiple attempts at demolition and eviction conducted across several years, over 1000 people found themselves homeless for the third time.
Although a notice for demolition was served the first time, in this instance, a few residents mentioned that they were called into the nearby police station and given a verbal notice to vacate the land in 10 days. However, the next day two bulldozers arrived at the settlement to demolish their homes, leaving them little time to gather their belongings. The residents state that they were later told that a complaint was filed against their settlement in relation to the theft of a car’s license plate in a nearby bank. It was believed that the culprits belonged to the settlement, thus justifying the demolition and eviction of the residents. The residents, however, maintain that the culprits came from elsewhere and that their basti is often frequented by outsiders who threaten them with knives. This reveals how pejorative assumptions about the urban poor can directly translate to their dispossession enabled through legal instruments, often while they navigate life-threatening situations regularly.
Moreover, this time, the residents cannot erect makeshift homes with plastic sheets and bamboo as they would have done earlier, slowly rebuilding their homes over time. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has hired a security guard to discourage residents from constructing any type of structure, making it difficult for them to shelter themselves against the weather. With the summer fast approaching in Delhi, coping with the extreme heat without a tent is already proving challenging, especially for young children and the elderly. On 3 April 2024, when the HLRN team visited the settlement, a large crowd was gathered to mourn the death of a four-day-old boy. While the exact cause cannot be ascertained, the residents believe that without a roof over the head, the unbearable heat, dust, and mosquitos may have contributed to the infant’s death.
The community’s only demand is to be allowed to stay on the land without further threat of demolition. While many families have moved to rental homes in faraway areas, the remaining ones said that neither can they afford to pay the exorbitant prices, nor can they leave this location where they have the means to earn a regular living working as waste pickers or as helpers in construction projects.
