New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly during Monday's special one-day session resolved that slum and jhuggi dwellers living along the railway tracks of the city should not be evicted at the time of a pandemic as such displacement would "only exacerbate the prevailing situation" and risk the lives, health, safety and security of the lakhs who live in these dwellings.
The resolution was tabled by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha and it added that prior rehabilitation must precede any attempt to evict the residents of the jhuggis here. The issue came up in public discourse after the Supreme Court had earlier this month ordered that all jhuggis along Delhi's train tracks be cleared in three months.
The Assembly passed the resolution with several MLA's thumping their desks in jubilation. The resolution also added that all authorities and agencies, be it under the Central government or the Delhi government, must work in unison to protect the interests of the residents living along the train tracks.
In fact, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also addressed the House on the issue and said that he and his government would do whatever it takes to make sure the jhuggi dwellers are given alternate housing arrangements before clearing their dwellings. Moreover, the CM also expressed satisfaction over the Centre's reply to the Supreme Court in the matter.
"I am happy with the affidavit filed by the Central Government in the supreme court today, where they have said that the Delhi Government, Railways, and Urban Development Ministry will jointly find a solution to this problem in the next four weeks, without doing any politics on the issue," he said.
However, the CM said that previous governments in Delhi had not planned the city properly and that the prevailing situation was a result of that.
"The agencies who had to plan and build houses for the poor did not do their job properly. Today, a milkman, vegetable seller, newspaper vendor, domestic help, or other servants come to work, where are they going to live?" he asked.