The Hindu : Dikshit seeks ban on slums' relocation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Dikshit seeks ban on slums' relocation

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 18 . The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has sought a complete ban on relocation of slum clusters by the various agencies in Delhi until the conclusion of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. She has also sought setting up of special camps to enlist the people who have been relocated to a new place in the recent months to enable them to cast their vote in the Parliamentary elections.

Ms. Dikshit is understood to have written to the Chief Electoral Officer, Arun Goyal, in this regard and sought his intervention. It is learnt that Ms. Dikshit has urged the Chief Electoral Officer to intervene in the matter and put a stop to the "politically motivated'' relocation of slum clusters by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central Government in the name of beautification. The recent relocation exercise undertaken at the Yamuna Pushta slums had generated a lot of heat on the timing and motive behind the exercise.

The Chief Minister is understood to have voiced her serious concern over the timing of relocation of these clusters, months before the Lok Sabha polls. She has urged the Election Commission to take stock of the situation and put an end to any such relocation exercise as had been done before the Assembly polls in Delhi.

Apart from this, the Chief Minister is also understood to have urged the Election Commission to hold special camps to enrol those people, who had been relocated to the new sites in Madanpur Khadar and Holambi Kalan, in the voters list so that they are able to cast their ballot during the Lok Sabha polls.

However, if this is not possible, the Election Commission should ensure that the concerned parties involved in the relocation exercise should make necessary arrangements to transport these people to enable them to cast their ballot at the same place where their names stands registered in the voters lists. The Congress has expressed concern over the relocation exercise and had aired its fear that this was being done to benefit the BJP by shifting out the traditional Congress voters.

"I have written to the concerned authorities in this regard. No thought has been given to the fact that the winter was severe and examination of children were only days ahead. This whole exercise could have taken place a few months later after creating the necessary civic infrastructure at the relocation site,'' she added.

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