NEW DELHI: Ram Gopal, a resident of the Sant Ravi Dass Camp at Vikaspuri in West Delhi, first lost his dwelling when the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) demolished the camp in May this year and shifted the inhabitants to a remote area of Bawana in North West Delhi. And then his loss was compounded by the death of his parents in quick succession.

As if this were not enough, he has still not been able to get an alternative plot in Bawana allotted to him despite getting no-objection letters from all his sisters as well as various affidavits filed in the DDA.

According to people working with the slum dwellers, Ram Gopal could have succeeded in his endeavour had he greased his palms, but he chose not to spend his hard-earned money this way. What is true of Ram Gopal is also true of the 100 more families who were left shelter-less when the Sant Ravi Dass camp and the Indira Camp No. 1 in Vikaspuri were demolished.

Stating that of the 626 families who lived in the camps, only 382 were surveyed — and too on a single day without prior notice — by the DDA, Ramendra Kumar of Kislay who has been working with the dwellers said that even of these, only 373 families were provided demand letters and 100 families are still making visits to the office of the Deputy Director (Land Management) of the West Zone of the DDA.

Even after the aggrieved residents, who are spending between Rs. 30 and 40 daily for travel over the 38-km distance from Bawana to the DDA West Zone office, filed applications under the Right to Information Act to know the status of their allotments, they were only given an assurance that the demand letters would be issued to them the following day. But even a month later, there has been no progress.Worse still, K.V. Krishnan, who has been associated with the dwellers for a long time, insists that tussle between two officials of the Land Department and the Engineering Department is the reason for the delay in issue of demand letters.

While the Deputy Director (Land Management), West Zone, insists that the letter seeking plots for the dwellers has been sent to the Engineering Department, Assistant Engineer Inder Kumar and Superintendent Engineer Rohit Kumar say the letter has still not been received.

As such, even as 2,566 plots are with the Engineering Department, hundreds of poor people are spending their lives in gross uncertainty about the future.

Rations in black

Since the ration cards had to be deposited for obtaining the demand letters and for transfer of the cards to a different zone, Mr. Krishnan said the dwellers were also being forced to buy their rations in black.

"As it is, these residents have been living in inhuman conditions due to lack of basic amenities such as water, toilets, electricity and schools. Withholding of the demand letters has now also made them very jittery as their future is totally in the dark," he said.

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