As bulldozers move in, Delhi's Madrasi Camp residents watch decades of life disappear
Janki, 65, and her daughter-in-law, Sumodhi, 35, sit on a couple of upturned buckets in the midst of all they could save from their house as they watch it being razed by a bulldozer. Their house was part of the Madrasi Camp in Jangpura, which was built overlooking the Barapullah drain and was demolished Sunday by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on the directions of the Delhi High Court.
Janki's family of three, including her son and daughter-in-law, are among those 155 unlucky families which were not eligible to receive a house as rehabilitation from the DDA.
Now, 50 years after she came to Delhi with her husband from a village near Tamil Nadu, she sits at the centre of whatever belongings the family could save from the house: kitchen utensils, some clothes, mattresses, bed sheets, a bucket, and two chairs. Beside her is a row of residents sitting on remnants of a once-thriving Tamilian community.
'The reason why we thought Madrasi Camp would be safe has now caused its destruction. No one thought anyone would want to build anything besides a drain,' she says.
In an order issued in March, the Delhi High Court observed that the Barapulla drain was blocked due to the jhuggi jhopri cluster of the Madrasi Camp. The court stated that it was crucial to clear the Barapullah drain, as the monsoon was expected to arrive within the next two to three months.
While the demolition was earlier scheduled for May 10, it was postponed to June 1 by the Delhi High Court as it directed the DDA and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to ensure amenities at the flats in Narela allotted to Madrasi Camp dwellers and also directed the authorities to hold special camps to hand over possession letters and facilitate bank loans.
'Those who earn more can think of renting another place. However, in my household, I earn only about Rs 7,000-8,000 per month. How will we pay for rent?' asks Sumodhi, who works as a domestic help in nearby bungalows.
Residents upset about being relocated to Narela
Even the 215 families found eligible for rehabilitation and allotted flats in Narela have long objected to being relocated to the Northwest Delhi suburb, 50 km away from their present accommodation, due to its distance from their present workplaces and alleged substandard quality of flats.
Many residents were also hopeful of another court intervention to further postpone the demolition, considering the Delhi High Court had halted a demolition in Okhla two days ago.
'Till the end, we had thought that we would not have to move,' says Selvi, whose daughter is a Class 12 student at the nearby Delhi Tamil Education Association school on Lodhi Estate, which teaches Tamil language and culture to students.
'Then the bulldozers rolled in this morning with so many policemen. My daughter is in Class 12, the most important year of her studies. It is not possible to travel from Narela every day, and changing schools in the last year also cannot be done,' adds Selvi, whose son studies in Ramanujan College, which is less than 15 minutes away.
For now, the family, like many others who have received Narela flats, has rented a one-bedroom flat in Bhogal for Rs 12,000 per month. Others have found rented accommodations in Sarai Kale Khan and Ashram.
Veeran, 40, vacated his house two days ago and took his belongings to a room he found for his family in Bhogal. He is now sitting beside whatever scrap material he could scavenge, such as some water pipelines, a couple of taps and some iron bars, to sell and earn whatever little he could. While his wife works as a domestic help, he washes the cars of the same bungalow owners.
'This is a posh area, so everyone from the Madrasi Camp finds work in the nearby houses of rich people. What work will I do in Narela? My kids are also in the DTEA school. Where will they study there?' he asks.
'I have also been to the flats in Narela. All the pipes and tiles have been stolen. There is no water or electricity there. How do they expect us to go and live there?'
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