The Hindu : Sheila again complains to EC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sheila again complains to EC

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. Reiterating that the ongoing relocation of slum clusters from the Yamuna Pushta was being done with the purpose of benefiting the fortunes of a particular political party in the coming Lok Sabha polls in the Capital, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today again urged the Election Commission to stop the eviction process.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, T. S. Krishnamurthy, Ms. Dikshit alleged that by picking selected squatter colonies for relocation, especially at a time when the Lok Sabha polls have been announced, not only the "fidelity of electoral rolls have been jeopardised, but also people at large have been dis-enfranchised".

Apparently referring to the allegations of the Union Tourism Minister, Jagmohan, that she was indulging in contempt of court by opposing the relocation process which was being done at the direction of the Delhi High Court order of 2003, Ms. Dikshit put the blame on the Union Urban Development Ministry for the delay in implementation of the said order.

Referring to letters written by the Delhi Chief Secretary, Shailja Chandra, to the Union Urban Development Ministry, for initiating steps to comply with the court order, she said the Ministry and its organisations like the Land and Development Office and the Delhi Development Authority did not take any step to implement this for more than a year.

The Delhi High Court in its order of March 3, 2003, had given two months time to the land owning agencies to give a compliance report on the removal of slum clusters from Yamuna Pushta.

Raising strong objections to what she alleged was selective removal of slum clusters, she said the relocation could have begun either from the Northern point of the river or from the Southern point of the river from Eastern and Western sides.

"The haste in which the selected squatter colonies are now being relocated, it appears to be with a probable objective of dispersing voters in order to adversely affect the political fortune of a particular political party," she said. Referring to the February 13 circular of the Election Commission, which directed that no slum clusters should be removed till the elections were over, Ms. Dikshit said this stand of the Commission now stands defeated by its action of "permitting" one particular Union Ministry, which is "really not concerned with the relocation policy, to relocate those colonies in a pick-and-choose fashion".

Ms. Dikshit had met the Election Commission on Thursday also with a similar plea that the relocation of slum clusters be stopped immediately as this was allegedly being done with a political objective.

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