Mid-winter eviction by MCD (28/12/2004)

MOST IMMEDIATE

Commissioner, Delhi Police

Sub: Complaint / request: Winter evictions by MCD

Ref: News report of today (reproduced below) and prior complaints / request for investigation

Sir,

As per the news item below, MCD (which decided yesterday to contribute Rs 4 cr to PM’s Tsunami relief fund) might have started today eviction without relocation of thousands for a greening project.

MCD’s project seems devoid of techno-legal basis; NCMP of central government (which has jurisdiction over land and police in Delhi) disallows the eviction; and the court’s "Maili Yamuna" orders do not quite "mandate" this.

That MCD, whose hit-or-miss Yamuna cleaning initiatives have become laughing stock, should be ascribing this to court while it continues to disregard court orders requiring legal slum policy since its illegal policy was quashed on 29.11.02 and has veritably converted its Slum Wing to an MCD-ActionAid committee (also born out of PIL) not open to suggestions for even night shelter solutions (such as one sent also to your office vide enclosed1 letter of 27.07.03), suggests a Public Authority Litigation situation to match PIL that lately led the Apex Court to pass cautionary remarks about "meddling with the judicial process".

In continuation of our enclosed2 complaint of 18.12.2004 about MCD Night Shelter in Pushta and our prior complaints about illegalities in MCD’s evictions in name of court, on grounds also of pendency of these, we urge you to stop / not support this willful eviction in inclement weather.

sd/-

MPISG Convener (Housing)

sd/-

MPISG Planner

Encl.

Complaint / Request of 18.12.20043 (without enclosures) and Letter of 27.07.20034

  •  News reports of 28.12.2004.5

MOST IMMEDIATE

Mr A K Jain

Commissioner (Planning), DDA

Sub: Mid-winter evictions by MCD

Ref: News report of today (reproduced below)

Dear Mr Jain,

With reference to this shocking news item, we:

  1. seek your view on the conformity of the MCD scheme with the Master Plan.
  2. reiterate our reservations about MoUD committee slum “policy” (cf, letter of 05/07/04, encl.16)
  3. reiterate our demand, with reference to Night Shelter in Pushta, for urgent disposal of IT Park Public Notice (cf, our letter of 18/12/04, encl.27), since this ill-timed eviction is being attributed to court orders for the river and the failure on both slum and night shelter initiatives is glaring.

Needless to say, we urge you, as the city’s Commissioner (Planning), to oppose this willful eviction in inclement weather for being entirely contrary to the fundamental premises of the Master Plan.

Yours sincerely

sd/-

MPISG Convener (Housing)

sd/-

MPISG Planner

Encl.

Encl. Letters of 05.07.04 and 18.12.04 (without enclosures)

To support planned development. To oppose unplanned development. To protect our future.

MOST IMMEDIATE

Shri BL Joshi

Hon’ble Lt Governor of Delhi

Sub: Winter eviction by MCD

Ref: Our representation of 26.12.2004 (enclosed for ready reference)

Respected Sir,

In continuation of our representation under reference (in particular, item #15 in encl.1 thereto), we are enclosing herewith our communications to Police Commissioner and DDA Commissioner (Planning) with reference to a news item about start of massive eviction by MCD. We seek with urgency your intervention for stopping this willful eviction in inclement weather and also urgent consideration of our representation under reference, which arises from identical unacceptable intent on part of public authorities. We also seek audience in this regard.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely

sd/-

MPISG Convener (Housing)

sd/-

MPISG Planner

Encl.

  1. Our letter of 28.12.2004 to Police Commissioner (1 p + 2p enclosures)
  2. Our letter of 28.12.2004 to DDA Commissioner (Planning) (1p + 2p enclosures)
  3. Our representation of 26.12.20048 (1p + 8p enclosures)

To support planned development. To oppose unplanned development. To protect our future.

  • 1. Suggestion for lawful solution for night shelter
    Open letter to Police Commissioner and DDA Vice Chairman with reference to MCD-ActionAid "consultation" of 25/07/2003

    http://skel.architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-22938

  • 2. MCD-ActionAid Night Shelter in Yamuna Pushta
    ActionAid-NGO-run Night Shelter for 400 in Pushta, inaugurated by MCD Commissioner on 13.12.04, involves multiple Master Plan violations, contempt of court, violation of Art.14 of the Constitution, dubious partnership and frustration of citizens' rights for participation and accountability in development decisions and depicts alarming nexus and state of anomie.

    http://skel.architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-22943

  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. Suggestion for lawful solution for night shelter, Op.cit.
  • 5. Asian Age, 28.12.2004:

    MCD ready to bulldoze slums along drain
    By Our Correspondent

    New Delhi, Dec. 27: Thousands of slum dwellers, who have been squatting on and around Gokulpuri Drain in northeast Delhi, will face mass eviction from Tuesday; the Municipal Commission of Delhi is all set with its bulldozers to raze down the dwellings.

    The slum dwellers have been residing around the drain for the last 30 years and in the past, all efforts of evacuating them have come to naught.

    "Earlier, plans to drive them out have been failing due to political interference. But now we want the areas around the drain to be green so as to maintain environmental balance as also to ensure that our twin-bin garbage segregation scheme moves well," said MCD commissioner Rakesh Mehta.

    Mr Mehta added that there was no question of the slum dwellers’ relocation as they had been living in the area illegally.

    The demolition is also part of the "Maili Yamuna" scheme, which mandates the civic body not to allow the flow of sewage and garbage in the Yamuna river.

    "Though the drain is meant for rain water, over the years it has come to carry sewage and household waste from the unauthorised colonies in the area," said the MCD commissioner.

    Not only the slum dwellers, but also residents throw garbage in the drains as they have no other alternative. Every monsoon, the MCD has to face an uphill task of cleaning the drain, but in vain. The cleaning work of the drain has also been under the scanner following the alleged misuse of funds by the sanitation department of the corporation.

    The MCD plans to make green the five km stretch along the drain in phases by investing about Rs 24 crores for the job.

  • 6. Sub: Objection to MoUD committee for slums / NCMP-DMP imperatives for housing for the poor, ridge and riverbed and intervention for stopping imminent demolition
    http://skel.architexturez.net/pst/38c34dec-0a0a-4d0a-9306-cf3f8d3062b7
  • 7. MCD-ActionAid Night Shelter in Yamuna Pushta, Op.cit.
  • 8. Representation for exemplary demolition of IT Park at Shastri Park
    And stopping of all identically illegal projects in riverbed/ridge and as “metro property development” till disposal of PIL/Public Notices about them (to Lieutenant Governor / DDA Chairman, 26/12/2004)

    http://skel.architexturez.net/pst/ea60c538-57aa-4267-9380-be39b29f5f7a