Delhi Congress President Devender Yadav claimed on Monday that when slum clusters were bulldozed leaving 15,000 residents without a roof over their heads amid scorching heat, only his party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, had rushed to support the displaced poor and assured them of all help in getting justice.
He pointed out that Congress promised to take up their case and carry on their fight from the street to courts, and from courts to Parliament. He said it is the poor of Delhi who played a crucial role in the development of the city.
Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office along with party leaders, including former Delhi minister Dr Narendra Nath, Yadav said the party’s state unit would start a 15-day campaign across all JJ clusters to assure the poor that Congress won’t allow them to be driven out of the national capital.
He claimed that Congress leaders had rushed to the Madrasi Camp in Jangpura, Bhoomiheen Camp in Kalkaji, and Jailor Bagh Road in Ashok Vihar, where slums were being brought down.
Yadav accused the previous government led by Arvind Kejriwal of betraying these people for over 11 years with false promises. And now, the BJP, after coming to power, was resorting to uproot the poor slum dwellers from Delhi, he alleged.
According to him, the Congress government under leadership of Sheila Dikshit worked for the rehabilitation of the poor and during her 15 years tenure as the chief minister, three schemes for slum dwellers to build houses on an in-situ basis were started.
During the period, the DDA constructed thousands of flats in the Katputhli Colony, Bhoomiheen Camp in Kalkaji, and Jailer Wala Bagh Road while under JNNRUM, 52,000 flats were built till 2014, of which keys of 3,500 houses were handed over to the slum dwellers.
He said of the remaining 48,000 houses that the Congress government had built, not even a single flat was allotted in 11 years of AAP rule.