"AAP will not allow Centre to demolish slums, drive thousands of families into homelessness": Atishi

New Delhi: Senior Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader Atishi accused the BJP-ruled central government of allegedly hatching a "conspiracy" to demolish all slums in the city and said that her party will not allow Centre to 'drive thousands of families into homelessness' till it is in power.
"Ahead of elections, the BJP always promises people to give them houses in the same place as their existing houses, but as soon as the elections get over, all the promises fall flat. Slums at various places across Delhi are being demolished because the Prime Minister hates slums, and according to him, slums cause him embarrassment in front of his foreign friends. But till the time Arvind Kejriwal is CM of Delhi, we will not let the BJP demolish any house in the slums of Delhi," the Delhi minister said.
She further said that her party would fight to save the houses of the poor from the streets of Delhi to Parliament. "If needed, we will stand together with people in front of bulldozers to save their houses," she added. AAP Senior Leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi visited BR Camp on Sunday to meet the residents of the slum. "Today, I visited BR Camp, located just behind the Race Course, where approximately 500 houses are currently occupied. The BJP had promised residents, before every election, that it would provide a house in place of the existing houses they are living in. Residents of BR Camp showed the forms they had filled out before the elections to secure homes from the BJP. However, now that the elections are over, the BJP-led DDA has planned to demolish the slum," she said. She also claimed that a notice by the DDA has been pasted on the houses, informing residents that their houses will be demolished. "They have been told that some of them will get houses in Narela, which is about 50 kilometers from here. However, the people of BR Camp are sure that they want a house where they are already living because that is what the law also says. Demolition of slums has been going on across Delhi, with the DDA making a list of such places and bulldozing the jhuggis across Delhi," Atishi said, claiming that the Centre is shifting people 50 kilometers from here to Narela and Kakrola.
"This will impact the studies of children and the work of people," she added. She also alleged that the BJP-led DDA demolished the houses of 300 families in Sunder Nagar, leaving them 'homeless in this spine-chilling cold because of the BJP a few days ago'. "This is all happening because the PM doesn't like slums. He is ashamed of the slums in front of his foreign friends. That is why he wants to get rid of jhuggis in Delhi," she added. The Delhi Minister also assured the people living in slums that her government will take the issue to the court. "We promise people living in slums that we will take this matter to court because having a house in the same place as the existing one is their right. Legally, this is the norm of in-situ rehabilitation. BR Camp is on DUSIB's notified list and was established before 2015; that is why people here cannot be removed without in-situ rehabilitation," she said.