Delhi: Left Welcomes Demolition Halt, Demands Immediate Rehab Plan
THE Left parties – CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), RSP, Forward Bloc and the CGPI, Basti Suraksha Manch – in a joint statement issued on August 2, have welcomed Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s statement to halt ongoing illegal demolitions in slum settlements across the city. CM’s remarks, reported in Hindustan Times and other newspapers, that “no slum will be removed without providing alternative housing first,” is a “step in the right direction” and a key demand long raised by the Aawaas Adhikar Jan Andolan and various housing rights movements in the capital, they said.
However, the Left parties stressed that these words must be swiftly translated into concrete action. “Thousands have already been rendered homeless in what has been one of the most ruthless demolition drives in recent memory – from Madrasi Camp and Bhoomiheen Camp to Ashok Vihar-Wazirpur,” the statement said. “People are living under the open sky, with no alternative housing or compensation. These actions have violated both legal protocols and the basic norms of human dignity.”
They demanded that the Delhi government immediately conduct a rapid survey of all demolition-affected sites and devise a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for displaced residents. They also called for reversing demolitions that lacked due process and legal sanction.
Another major concern raised was the arbitrary removal of 82 slum settlements from the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board’s (DUSIB) notified list of 675+85 jhuggi bastis. The parties urged the government to reinstate these and undertake a full-scale revision of the notified list through a new, inclusive survey. Key demands included reducing the minimum threshold for recognition of slum clusters from 50 to 20 households, extending cut-off dates for eligibility, and ensuring that residents of Zone-O are also covered under DUSIB’s rehabilitation policy.
The statement also expressed alarm over DUSIB’s July 5 order initiating a feasibility study for implementing a Dharavi-style public-private partnership (PPP) model in Delhi. “The Dharavi project in Mumbai has been a disaster for the urban poor – leading to displacement, exclusion, and speculative profiteering by private real estate giants like Adani,” the parties noted.
They warned against replicating market-driven rehabilitation schemes and instead demanded that the government commit to public investment in genuinely affordable housing and rental options for the urban poor. “Delhi has thousands of vacant housing units that can be repurposed, and the government must prioritise building new homes where necessary – without bowing to profit-oriented models that have already failed the city’s most vulnerable residents,” the statement concluded.
