Maken slams Centre, AAP for not challenging SC ruling on slum removal

Congress slammed Modi government and Kejriwal government for not taking up the matter of demolishing 48,000 slums near the railway lines in Delhi in Supreme Court and accused them of doing politics

The Congress slammed the Narendra Modi government and the Arvind Kejriwal government for not taking up the matter of demolishing 48,000 slums near the railway lines in Delhi in the Supreme Court and accused them of doing politics.

Speaking to media outside Parliament House on Monday, former Union Minister and Congress leader Ajay Maken said, "On August 31, the Supreme Court ordered to remove 48,000 slums near the railway tracks without making any other arrangements."

"Two weeks have passed since then and neither the Delhi government nor the Centre took note of it and were only indulged in political statements," Maken said.

Targeting both the governments, the Congress leader said it was the reason why he decided to approach the apex court to stop the demolition and even the Central government's Solicitor General accepted that no action should be taken for four weeks till the time Delhi and the Centre doesn't decide on it.

Sharing an incident from 2015, Maken said that a child died during the demolition inside a cement showdown.

"Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had then visited the family of the child and then he had asked me to fight for the rights of the slum dwellers.

"I filed a petition in Delhi High Court and by 2019 the bench of Justice Muralidhar K gave the judgement which said that poor have right to live in city, have right for shelter and right for a roof. The judgement also prepared a protocol that if any slum need to be removed then first of all a survey will be done, people will be identified and then before the cut off date the slum dwellers will be shifted to other place in the city and then only any action can be initiated," Maken said.

Lamenting at the Centre and the city governments, Maken said, we in Supreme Court said that the Railway and the Delhi government were altogether in this and it was the reason why they didn't challenge this in the court.

Maken said that he was happy that the top court took the matter on priority and stopped the demolition.

To a question on the role of Aam Aadmi Party government in the city, Maken sad it was their responsibility to challenge the court's decision but they remained silent.

"Why did they remain silent since August 31? Was it not their responsibility to challenge the judgement in the court," the Congress leader added.

--IANS

aks/rt