Evicted jhuggi-jhopri dwellers protest

Jhuggi-jhopri dwellers evicted from Banuwal Nagar, Pragati Market, Sawan Park, Paschim Vihar and Yamuna Pushta in 2006 held a protest meeting outside the Delhi Development Authority headquarters at Vikas Sadan here on Thursday demanding honouring of the directions of the Lieutenant-Governor made in March regarding the process of allotment of flats to them.

The protesters have been alleging that the DDA did not consider their eligibility despite them meeting the criteria set by the land agency and possessing adequate documents to prove their residence. On March 7, 2012, in a meeting attended by the DDA's vice-chairman, principal commissioner (land management), commissioner (LM) and Dunu Roy and Zahir Ahmed of the Hazards Centre, the L-G had directed the DDA to accept either the voter id-card or the ration card provided the said documents were verified by the State Election Commission or the Food and Supplies Office (FSO) and these persons met the cut-off date for eligibility.

The reason for the protest on Thursday was that the L-G had also directed that the verification of documents should be completed within three months. The protesters under the banner of the Bawana Sangharsh Samiti and Shramik Sudhar Sangathan Samiti alleged that despite the L-G's direction to the DDA vice-chairman to request the State EC and the FSO to expedite the verification process, this was not being done.

Many of the protesters complained that when they went to get their ration cards verified they were told that the records could not be found. The L-G had also directed that when the relevant records are not available, a certificate of non-availability of records should be obtained from the departments concerned.

The protesters said they were disappointed at not being granted an audience with the DDA vice-chairman or the commissioners. One protester, who was evicted from Sant Ravidas Camp at Vikaspuri, displayed the discrepancies between the list of residents of the JJ cluster prepared by the DDA and the list of residents prepared through a verification survey conducted later.