50,000 slum units mushroomed in 20 years

The demolition of a slum cluster in Shakur Basti, in which a six-month-old girl lost her life, has once again raised the contentious issue of rampant encroachments on railway land across the national capital.

In the last two decades, around 50,000 dwelling units have come up on the Indian Railways land. These include the one at Shakur Basti that was demolished by the Delhi Division of Northern Railway on Saturday.

The demolition drive at Shakur Basti, which has created a major political furore, began with the railways first holding a meeting with the officials of different agencies. The meeting deliberated upon the protection that the Delhi police would be providing to the officials while executing the drive. Finally, two companies of the CRPF, 72 personnel from the Delhi police, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and 55 RPF staff were deployed to raise 1,200 units during its six-hour operation from 12 noon to 6 pm.

It is only due to the failure of the railway authorities to take timely action against the encroachers in the city that has finally given birth to over 1,000 such dwelling units in Shakur basti alone. “From a few temporary structures, a slum settlement of about 1,200 dwelling units of plastic sheets and tirpal, including around a dozen shops, came up near the said land at Shakur Basti Railway Station in the past two decades,” said a railway official.

The ground staff, gangman or trackman, who patrol and check the railway tracks, had failed to report the encroachment when it first came up to the higher authorities. Later on, political parties identifying slumdwellers as potential votebanks, not only protected them, but also helped people to encroach the railway and other public land.

“These slums which came by encroaching public land are patronised by political parties which consider them as their votebanks. For the political support, residents in these slum clusters vote en mass in favour of these parties in the elections. Earlier, these slums used to be a votebank of the Congress party and then shifted loyalty to the AAP in the last two Assembly elections in the city. It only reason behind Mr Kejriwal’s midnight visit to demolition site almost six hours after the drive ended,” said a senior politician in the city.

Over the years, around 150 acres of railways land worth several thousand crores has been encroached upon in the national capital. About 47,000 dwelling units in 52 clusters have came up in these areas. A conservative estimate reveals over two lakh people reside in these units. Maximum number of dwelling units by encroaching rail land have came up in the northwest part of the city, where Shakur Basti falls.

According to the railways record, in eight clusters around 16,000 dwelling units exist in northwest Delhi and Shakur Basti is one of them. With only 100 dwelling units, New Delhi district has minimum encroachment of railway land.

Around half of these units, 22,000 are came up in the railway safety zone putting everyone at risk, including the residents and rail passengers.

As per the railway safety regulations, 15 metres of land on the both sides of the rail track is considered the railway safety zone for safe and smooth movement of rail traffic.

“Any slum cluster within the railway safety zone is a serious threat to safe and secure movement of rail traffic along with the safety of residents in the clusters,” added a senior railway official of Delhi Division.