Slum eviction and resettlement in Delhi during Commonwealth games Presented by Nitika Negi-Theertha Suresh-Shubham singh Slums The slums has become an identity of our country, something we can’t boast of. This dark side of our country, if not improved, will only double in years to come. The life in Indian slums has not been hidden, but a little revision is required to awaken ourselves of the triumphs and dilapidated condition of those residing in the slums. Introduction An encroachment Where do evicted slum dwellers go? Why only Yamuna Pushta slum? Analysis The XIX Commonwealth Games (CWG) took place in New Delhi, India, from 3–14 October 2010. Marked by corruption, financial scandals Introduction and human rights violations, the Games continue to generate a negative image of India, Introductionboth within the country and abroad. The preparations for Delhi’s Commonwealth Games witnessed a range of human rights violations of Z the city’s working poor, including the homeless, ‘beggars,’ street vendors, slum dwellers, and construction workers. During this course, the city has witnessed demolitions and evictions of at least 200,000 people. These evictions have been carried out for various reasons, including construction of stadiums, building of parking lots, widening of roads, city ‘beautification,’ and grounds of ‘security.’ An encroachment The Yamuna Pushta During mid nineteen hundreds, the need for reform in housing driven by a new utopia, free of slums and informal settlements Yamuna Pushta, starting from the ITO bridge and up to the Salimgarh Fort. It has also been home to riverbed cultivators, and over 100,000 residents a string of slum colonies (shantytown) for some 40 years. Many of these slums were being demolished in 2004, after court orders which were part of the beautification drive of the Government ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and for creating a "green belt". In 2004, the homes of nearly 40,000 families in Yamuna Pushta, a strinA settlement of 1,50,000 people that had existed, in Z some parts, for nearly 40 years, was labelled an "encroachment" by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the settlement violated the DDA Master Plan. The river bed, they said, was not meant for construction and habitation. Yet this same river bed apparently is a perfect site for a mammoth temple built, yet again, in violation of the Master Plan, as will be the games village and new hotels for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and, in the greatest of ironies, the Delhi secretariat. God and foreign athletes apparently have a (highly subsidised) place to live in Delhi, but the urban poor simply don't make the cut. Delhi felt it imperative to welcome the world to the Green Games in a clean, systematic and beautiful city. The infrastructure indirectly related to the Games such as roads, metro, buses, and any project concerning beautification of the city in general required the helpless, hapless citizens to sacrifice their habitat and livelihood to be swept away from sight so as to save the city from the embarrassment of its poverty-stricken population. History has shown that world over, this process of ‘cleaning up’ the city, has always resulted in eviction of those who are economically too weak and politically unrepresented to be able to voice their anguish and defend their rights. LIST OF SOME SITES DEMOLISHED DUE TO THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES Name of Area and Location Date and Time of Demolition Purported Reason for Demolition Number of Homes Destroyed Shaheed Arjun Das Camp January 13, 2009 – covering of nallah(drain) and 300 – 350 jhuggis (homes) beautification – ‘security’ reasons Camp behind Badrinath Temple January 13, 2009 – mid day – covering of nallah(drain) and 50 (opposite Thyagaraj Sports ‘beautification’ Complex) – ‘security’ reasons Bengali Camp (East Kidwai Nagar) January 13, 2009 – in the morning – covering of nallah(drain) and approximately 200 ‘beautification’ – ‘security’ reasons Dargah Bhure Shah Camp May 14, 2007 – around 8 AM Construction of Barapullah elevated 115 (Nizamuddin East, near Railway corridor Station) Gadia Lohar Basti January 12, 2009 – to widen the road and build an 18 jhuggis (homes) (near Thyagaraj Stadium) 12.30 – 1 pm underpass connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with Thyagaraja Stadium Indira Gandhi Camp February 2, 2009 – to widen the road to build an underpass connecting 100 jhuggis that lined the road and (New Khanna Market, Lodhi Colony) Thyagaraj Sports Complex to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium some small shops – ‘beautification’ purposes JJ Camp, Prem Nagar January 12, 2009 – to widen the road to build an underpass 30 – beautification purposes Madrasi Camp, Jangpura B April 15, 2010 – laying of electric wire for construction of Barapullah 200 elevated corridor Camp near Shiv Mandir in Sewa Nagar January 12, 2009 – to widen the road to build an underpass 10 – 12 – ‘beautification’ purposes Prabhu Market January 9, 2009 – to build a parking lot and link road to connect Thyagaraj 100 (Lodhi Colony) around 10 am – 11am Sports Complex to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Sai Baba Camp 21 June 2010, 11 am – beautification purposes – security reasons 25 (although MCD in court says that it (Lodhi Road) destroyed only 13 homes) Viklang Basti December 24, 2009 – ‘beautification’–togrow grass on the roundabout 250 people (near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) What is ironic is that most of the 27,000 families displaced from Yammuna Pushta had actually come in as workers in 1980s for construction of the Games Village and stadiums when Delhi was to host the Asiad Games, and Where do are now being ushered away in the follow-up to the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Most vanish into other parts of the city, never sure if the evicted slum roof over their heads will once again be taken away. Some Pushta residents have been settled in Bawana, where each family of five or more received between 12 and 18 square metres of land—that's about 12 ft x 12 ft per person! dwellers go ? The government had plenty of land next to slum like Vijay Ghat and Shakti shital. By just demolishing the houses under the pressure of police without any notice is seems to be unfair and unhumanized. Some people who were able to get there houses in Bawana are still The question is living in bad situation. According to the government the demolishing and re settling of the slum will make Delhi a “modern city” but by just demolishing the slums and poor people doesn't make the city a “modern city” , it why only Yamuna actually made situation more worse. The new commonwealth games village seems beautiful inside the boundary but slowly the slums are Pushta slum coming up around it. And this will keep on growing as time passes. The new commonwealth games village serves no purpose then just make our city artificially a modern city. Realty hasn't changed by just demolishing and resettling the slums and by making poor people pay for that by losing their land, livelihood, lifetime ? savings Analysis of slum eviction Source: https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/india-forced- evictions-skyrocket-due-to-commonwealth%C2%A0games/ .