A group of residents from hutments in East Delhi’s Shahadra staged a demonstration outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s house at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad.
On Saturday, eight jhuggis were allegedly demolished at Chhota Nagar near Ghuggi Pahalwan in Shahdara at the time when Mr. Kejriwal was taking oath at the Ramlila Maidan as the Chief Minister. Local police, however, said that the people were trying to build jhuggis on government land and the police stopped them from doing so.
“The police never demolishes any construction on its own. It is the job of the land-owning agency. Our role is limited to providing security during any such drive to maintain law and order,” said a senior police official. Several dwellers were allegedly left injured during the incident. The protesters also hit out at local AAP MLA Ram Nivas Goyal.
“Two days ago, a few policemen had come to meet Mr. Goyal. That time we were sure that he would pitch in our favour but the opposite happened. The next day our jhuggis were demolished,” one of the protesters said. Mr. Goyal said, “On Saturday, when the police picked them up, I ensured their release and asked them to meet me at 4 p.m. They did not turn up and instead protested outside Mr. Kejriwal’s house.”
Group of residents from Shahadra
protested against the alleged demolition
of their hutments
