Baby found dead after demolition drive in Shakur Basti, Kejriwal suspends 2 SDMs

The demolition was carried out on late Saturday evening at Shakur Basti in West Delhi in which 1,200 slum units were removed, with the Railways insisting that the action was necessary to clear the “encroachments” for expanding the infrastructure. The Railways said the demolition was carried out after three notices, the first one with the March 14, 2015 deadline. Two more notices were given to them — one with the deadline of September 30, 2015 and the last one with the deadline of December 12, 2015 (Saturday).

A six-month-old baby died in one of the slum units, which the Railways insisted occurred two hours before the demolition started at 12 pm on Saturday. Police said prima facie, the baby died after a heap of clothes fell on the child while his parents were preparing to move out of the jhuggi and hence no case is made out.

Kejriwal, while slamming the Railways, suspended two Sub-Divisional Magistrates and another senior official for “failing to arrange” food and shelter for those evicted.

As the controversy broke out, Delhi Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Arun Arora told a press conference here that the child’s death has no connection with the removal of encroachments which had become a “risk” for train operations as the slums were within the 15-metre of safety zone. He said the National Green Tribunal had also ordered that the tracks should be cleared of solid waste and to ensure this the railways had to “remove the source”.

Kejriwal, who visited the site late Saturday 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.

Talking to reporters, he said: “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.”

Earlier, in a series of tweets, Kejriwal 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.”

Meanwhile, Northern Railway General Manager A K Puthia and Delhi Divisional Railway Manager Arun Arora along with some other Railway officials met Kejriwal at his residence and briefed him about the drive undertaken at Shakur Basti. 

“We met the Chief Minister and apprised him of the prevailing situation. We explained to him that this demolition drive has no connection with the death of the child,” Arora said. Delhi government sources said the “CM was not happy with the Railway officials’ response and would take up the matter with Railway Minister (Suresh Prabhu).”