IT took no more than a few hours for about 900 slum dwellings to be pulled down last month at Rangpur Pahadi in south Delhi, the swiftness and suddenness of the action catching the thousands of residents of the settlement off-guard and leaving them with little recourse for justice in a case where the court itself was ignored by Delhi government officials as they carried out their demolition drive. For even though high court recently ordered the suspension of any kind of demolition activity by the government in winter, the officials who saw to it that the houses were razed to the ground at Rangpur Pahadi did not give the residents any notice before turning up to bring down their dwellings. And as they went about clearing the jhuggi jhopris, the officials, who had come accompanied by police, did not even consider giving the people a chance to save their little few necessary possessions. The picture at Rangpur Pahadi is one of utter hopelessness. Water pipelines have been destroyed and open drains flow right outside the demolished houses. The residents, who are holding on to their neighbourhood even though they have lost their homes, had to stay for three days and nights under the open skies, exposed to the winter’s chilly bite. They are being forced to defecate in the open although they now have received makeshift shelters in the form of tents which they have put up amidst the heap of rubble which has replace what was once their home. A significant number of the inhabitants at Rangpur Pahadi belong to the Muslim minority and the situation in which the residents now find themselves is exactly the kind which the forces of RSS-BJP use to foment communal tension and violence. Congress also is playing politics at the cost of their houses and maybe, even lives, claim the affected people. Soon after the demolition, CPI(M) south west local committee met deputy commissioner of police (South Delhi) and demanded immediate relief and rehabilitation. The Party leaders asked the police to stop any kind of violence and take strong action against anti-social activities. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung met the affected people on November 29 and promised prompt relief but he did not explain why in the first place the demolition was carried out without any notice. (EOM)