Delhi HC postpones Madrasi Camp demolition to June 1, says need to relocate its residents before monsoon
The Delhi High Court has postponed the demolition of the unauthorised Madrasi Camp — a jhuggi-jhopdi (JJ) cluster located on the Barapullah drain bank near Jangpura — to June 1, nearly three weeks after the scheduled date of May 10.
The authorities had issued a demolition notice to the squatters to remove encroachments and unauthorised construction on the Barapullah drain to de-clog it.
A bench of Justices Prathiba Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing a bunch of applications filed by Madrasi Camp dwellers, seeking the court's intervention in their relocation to Narela.
The court said that the relocation of Madrasi Camp residents is of 'utmost urgency and significance, particularly in light of the approaching monsoon season'. It also maintained that while the 'clearance of Barapullah drain was imperative to prevent waterlogging during monsoon', the 'rehabilitation of Madrasi Camp dwellers is also essential for the de-clogging of the Barapullah drain'.
Of the 370 jhuggis in Madrasi Camp, residents of 189 have been found eligible for rehabilitation under the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015. Set to be rehabilitated to Narela, the residents had highlighted before the court that the flats where they would stay lacked basic amenities.
While noting that the 'demolition ought to be done in a systematic manner', the HC directed the authorities — Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Urban Shelter Improve-ment Board (DUSIB), Public Works Department and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi — to hold two camps between May 10 and 12.
While the first camp 'would be for handing over possession letters of the Narela flats', the second 'shall be for the purpose for sanctioning loans, if required'.
'… the representatives of banks shall be duly present at the camps so that if any of the dwellers wish to avail of loan facilities, it can be arranged without inconvenience,' the HC directed.
The court also directed DDA and DUSIB to ensure that the amenities are made available at the flats in Narela by May 20.
After May 20, the bench directed, the Madrasi Camp dwellers 'shall start moving their belongings to the respective flats allotted to them in Narela' and if any of the residents choose not to take possession letters or avail of loan facilities, 'no further opportunity shall be granted to them for seeking allotment of the flats at Narela or any rehabilitation camps'.
The court has given the dwellers time between May 20 and 31 to shift out of Madrasi Camp, following which, demolition shall begin from June 1.
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