Night shelter demolished; DDA says action legal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 19

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Friday came under sharp criticism from activists and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), for demolishing a night shelter for women and children in the Nizamuddin area rendering around 100 children and women homeless last night.

Expressing anguish, DCW Chairperson Swati Jaihind condemned the move while the DCW taking suo motu cognisance of the demolition has instituted an enquiry into it and issued notices to the Delhi Police and DDA, which in turn has called the action “legal”.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal has written to the DUSIB and the District Commissioner of Police (South East) seeking information on the circumstances surrounding the demolition.

“The DCW has issued a notice to the DDA and the Delhi Police to name the official who ordered the demolition and why,” she said.

“Shameful. Authorities behaving like gundas! Their houses never demolished, so can't understand pain of poor children whose shelter snatched,” the DCW chief tweeted.

A DCW team visited the site this morning and was told by residents that “no prior information” of demolition was given either to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and NGO running the shelter or to the residents.

Residents of the shelter demanded the home be restored alleging that Delhi Police used force against them and lathi-charged them and they were not given adequate time to collect their meagre belongings.

Jaihind questioned the demolition demanding answers from the DDA and the Delhi Police what led to the demolition and what is the rehabilitation plan they have in mind for those whom they have rendered homeless.

“The shelter situated in Amir Khusro Park area was home to around 100 children and women. The children were mostly picked up from the streets, who used to beg and were being rehabilitated. Some of them had been enrolled in a municipal school nearby. The shelter was demolished last night,” claimed an official from the NGO which ran the shelter in partnership with the DUSIB.

On the issue, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also reacted on twitter.

“V sad. Del govt's shelter home demolished. Women, children rendered homeless. They r being shifted to another shelter home,” he tweeted.

However, the DDA official maintained that the demolition was legal and carried out in accordance with the Delhi High Court order.