It’s Rahul vs AAP in demolition row
KEJRIWAL PROMPTLY HIT BACK, SAYING GANDHI WAS A ‘CHILD’ WHO DID NOT KNOW THAT THE CENTRE CONTROLLED THE RAILWAYS
NEW DELHI: No slums will be razed until rehabilitation plans are in place, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday as the Delhi high court pulled up the railways for the “inhuman” demolition of shanties on Saturday that left a child dead and hundreds homeless in the winter chill.
“It has been decided that from now on, no slum will be demolished anywhere in Delhi,” Kejriwal told the media after meeting railway minister Suresh Prabhu to discuss rehabilitation arrangements. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal and Prabhu were earlier locked in a war of words over the demolition in Delhi’s Shakur Basti and the death of a child who lived there.
Accompanied by Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, Rahul Gandhi met the displaced men, women and children on Monday and vowed to fight for their rights. “We will try to help you... We will fight for you... We will raise the issue in Parliament,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi’s office tweeted that both the central and Delhi governments were to blame for the Saturday demolition. “Now they are busy blaming each other. Instead, they should provide help to the people who have been displaced and rehabilitate them.”
Kejriwal promptly hit back, saying Gandhi was a “child” who did not know that the Centre controlled the railways. Prabhu said the demolition was carried out after sending repeated notices to people in Shakur Basti to vacate the land.
The grieving father of the deceased seven-month-old girl said she died in the panic caused by the imminent demolition on Saturday. Prabhu told the Lok Sabha that the child died before the railways started pulling down the illegally built structures.
The Delhi police said the infant’s death was not linked to the demolition drive and they had log records indicating the child had died before railway officers reached the slum around noon.
The child’s post-mortem report, accessed by HT, said she was declared brought dead to the hospital at 11.39am, 21 minutes before the drive started.
Railway officers said the child’s father had given a police statement confirming that his daughter died after a bundle of clothes fell on her. “Our men were at the police station when this incident took place. The girl’s father in her statement has said that she died an unfortunate death around 9.30 in the morning,” a senior railway officer said.
Joint commissioner of police (south west range) Deependra Pathak said an FIR had been registered. “The death is unfortunate but it is not connected to the demolition drive. The girl’s father and paternal uncle gave us statements that she died inside her home after a bundle of clothes fell on her while they were packing. We have still registered a case and are investigating it.”