Bulldozers flatten Madrasi Camp amid heavy security 

Delhi slum demolished, residents displaced, facing inadequate housing and lack of basic amenities, sparking political controversy.

As dawn broke on Sunday, bulldozers rumbled into Madrasi Camp in south Delhi’s Jangpura under the watchful eyes of a police contingent and started tearing down hundreds of houses in the decades-old slum cluster, while stunned residents, some teary-eyed, looked on.

The demolitions were a result of a Delhi High Court order dated May 9, which directed the authorities to clear the area along the Barapullah drain as part of a restoration and cleaning drive for the 16-kilometre-long drain, which flows into the Yamuna river.

Wiping her tears, Rani, a 50-year-old widow, said, “My family left Madras [now Chennai] 55 years ago without any belongings. I built my house, which meant the world to me, from scratch. In a minute, they razed it.”

The area was inhabited mostly by residents hailing from Tamil Nadu.

Of the 370 families in the area, 215 were found eligible for relocation under the ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan’ rehabilitation scheme. A total of 189 have been offered flats in Narela, while the remaining 26, found eligible under a revised list, are still awaiting allotment.

Members of the other families, which were declared ineligible, said surveyors rejected their claims citing reasons such as their names missing from voter lists and minor spelling mismatch in their documents.

While some families are said to have moved their belongings 40 km away to Narela, the exact count remains unclear. Several residents said the flats allotted to them lack basic amenities, including electricity and water, and have broken doors and no windows. The Delhi Development Authority, which allotted the flats, did not respond to these claims till the time of going to press.