The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday slammed Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena and the BJP for the demolition drives being carried out in the national capital and said it would not allow bulldozing of Pakistani Hindu refugees' homes in north Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila area.

A day earlier, locals claimed that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had issued notices to Hindu refugees from Pakistan, who live near Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tila on the Yamuna floodplain, to vacate the place.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP-led Centre's DDA was targeting thousands of Hindu refugees from Pakistan.

"Central government agencies, be it DDA, Land and Development Office (L&DO), the Railways or the Archaeological Survey of India, are continuously involved in demolishing the homes of people living in Delhi's slums. "In this, the biggest role has been played by the DDA and L&DO, which come directly under the jurisdiction of the Delhi L-G," he claimed.

There was no immediate reaction from the LG's office over the AAP's charges.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said it was regrettable that AAP leaders were involved in "dirty politics" over the judicial orders of the Nation Green Tribunal evicting Pakistani Hindu refugees living on the Yamuna floodplain.

He said that as soon as leaders of the refugees apprised the BJP about the eviction notice late last night, they immediately took up the matter with the Lt. Governor and got eviction scheduled for Thursday stalled.

The Lt. Governor has assured them that the Hindu refugees will not be evicted without an alternative accommodation, he said. The Delhi BJP said its unit in Chandni Chowk has been offering support to the refugees in their hour of need.

At the press conference, Bharadwaj alleged that Pakistani Hindu refugees living in the Majnu Ka Tila area have been told to vacate the place and DDA is going to bulldoze their homes. "I want to know what enmity the LG has with the poor people living in slums in different parts of Delhi," he said.

The minister alleged that the BJP has nothing to do with Hindus.

"If the BJP is pro-Hindu, the BJP-led Central government should immediately stop the order to bulldoze the homes of these thousands of Hindu refugees who have been living near Majnu Ka Tilla for the past 13 years and take strict action against all officials who conspired to demolish the houses," Bharadwaj said.

He alleged that a similar notice for demolition had been issued for a slum settlement in the RK Puram area. "I want to ask the L-G whether or not he knows about all these matters," Bharadwaj said.

The minister claimed that the L-G would deny having information about the matter and accuse the AAP of lying. "The L-G is the chairman of DDA, and if he is not aware of these things, then he should immediately suspend the chief engineer of DDA," he said.

In November 2019, the NGT, while hearing a matter regarding the encroachment of the Yamuna floodplain by slum dwellers near Majnu Ka Tila Gurdwara, directed the DDA and the Delhi government to clear the illegal occupation.

The NGT through an order on January 29 this year imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the DDA and directed it to submit an action-taken report in the matter of encroachment removal within four weeks. However, the demolition has been postponed. In another press conference, AAP MLA Dilip Pandey alleged that the Union government "hates" slum dwellers and the BJP leaders consider these settlements to be an "ugly spot" in Delhi.

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti claimed that people living in the slums of RK Puram Sector-12 have been issued notices and instructed to vacate the area within seven days.

"If slums of R K Puram are demolished on the orders of the BJP-led central government, I will be found lying in front of the bulldozer. During elections, the BJP promises to provide houses where there are slums and as soon as elections are over, their promises prove to be mere words," he said. In a statement, DDA refuted the AAP's charges. "Allegations have been made today in the media by certain public representatives that DDA has issued notice to jhuggi jhopri dwellers of Sector 12 R K Puram to vacate their houses within seven days as they were living illegally. These allegations are false and not borne by facts. DDA has not issued any notice to dwellers of Sector 12 R K Puram," read the statement. Responding to charges of "targeting slum dwellers with the specific intent of uprooting them", the DDA said it is seen that rehabilitation and relocation of Jhuggi Jhopri dwellers of Delhi is administered by Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy 2015 of DUSIB (Delhi government).

"Claims made on the contrary are only aimed at misleading people," it said. Within the overarching framework of this statutory policy of the Delhi government, DDA has been entrusted with the rehabilitation and relocation of eligible jhuggi dwellers of DUSIB-identified JJ clusters on DDA and Central Government land, it said.

Currently, DDA has undertaken three in-situ slum rehabilitation projects in Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh and Kathputli Colony wherein more than 35,000 people are being rehabilitated. In these projects, the flats are provided with all modern amenities along with adequate social and physical infrastructure, the DDA said. "Wherever in situ slum rehabilitation is not feasible in terms of the Delhi government's policy, JJ dwellers are relocated by DDA. Therefore the question of ''targeting'' or ''demolishing'' or ''eviction'' as being alleged, does not arise and the assertions to this effect are patently false. Any such exercise undertaken, as and when and if at all, is done as per the policy of the Delhi government," it added.

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