The Supreme Court had in August 2020 ordered the removal of jhuggis built on railway land across Delhi, but no action has been taken even after two and a half years. In fact, 150 acres of land is occupied by the national transporter in the city.
According to official documents accessed by News18, around 2.5 lakh people are living in slums across the city – Naraina Vihar, Azadpur, Shakur Basti, Mayapuri, Srinivaspuri, Anand Parvat and Okhla. “According to the last survey conducted by DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board) in 2014, there are 48,000 shanties spread over about 150 acres on railway land in Delhi. This is not only affecting the movement of trains, but we need to impose speed restrictions on certain stretches for safety reasons; Ensuring cleanliness is also a big challenge,” a ministry official told News18 on the condition of anonymity.
The official said despite regular drives to clean these areas, the same amount of garbage is dumped in and around the tracks every other day. “Unless the slums are removed”, there is no way to keep these areas clean, the official said.
In its order, the SC had directed that the Railways, the Delhi government and the Ministry of Urban Development should make efforts to resolve it. Railways said as a policy, it was not going to undertake Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R).
“As a policy, it should be done by the state government. This practice is followed all over India. The state governments will have to bear the cost of rehabilitation. If Railways starts R&R, it will be an invitation to all to come and settle on Railway land and then they will demand compensation for resettlement. If we start doing it at one place, it will be used as an example everywhere across India,” said the railway official.
What is the Delhi government saying?
The Delhi government said that under the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2015, the rehabilitation work is to be carried out by the agency which has the encroached land. “Since the Railways owns the land, it will have to take up R&R. If they want us to do this work for them, they should pay us,” an official told News18 on the condition of anonymity.
According to the official website of DUSIB, it will be the nodal agency for resettlement and rehabilitation of JJ clusters from land belonging to the MCD and Delhi government as well as its departments and agencies. “In the case of Central Government agencies such as Railways, Delhi Development Authority, Land and Development Office, Delhi Cantonment Board and New Delhi Municipal Council, they shall be free to relocate and rehabilitate themselves as per the policy of the Government of Delhi or may assign Are. Jobs to DUSIB,” the website reads.
How is encroachment affecting the Railways?
Projects worth Rs 550 crore are stuck in the national capital due to encroachment on railway land. “Many of our projects are stuck due to these encroachments. One of them is the grade separator (a railway flyover) at Daya Basti. Its construction work was stopped about 10 to 12 years ago due to encroachment on the land. There are around 1,700 slums in the area, which need to be cleared to complete the work. It is halved and the investment made on it is being wasted. The project was worth around Rs 200 crore.
Another similar project stuck is the construction of a coaching terminal at Shakur Basti at a cost of around Rs 250 crore. There are around 750 slums affecting the completion of this project.
The increase in line capacity has also been affected due to encroachment. The official said the railways wanted to extend the lines to ease traffic flow but was unable to do so. The official said similar projects are planned for the Ring Railway, but “everything is stuck”.
“At some places, the encroachment causes hindrances in train operations and safety hazards and difficulties in track maintenance. The encroachment apart from hindering the creation of new infrastructure is also a nuisance to the public,” said the railway official.
According to the Ministry of Railways, 782.81 hectares (1,934.36 acres) of land is under encroachment across India as of March 31, 2022. The northern region has the largest share – 157.89 hectares (390 acres) – followed by encroachment on 140.60 hectares of land in the southeastern region.
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