“Our right to have a house”: Slum residents protest SC’s demolition order

Over five weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of 48,000 slum dwellings lined along railway tracks in Delhi, the residents of the Chandra Shekhar Azad Colony, in the Sarai Rohilla area, are worried and perplexed. The apex court’s order on 31 August directed that there can be no stay on the demolition, which had to be carried out in three months in conjunction between the state government, Northern Railways and the centre. As per several legal provisions there can be no demolition without a rehabilitation or resettlement plan in place. As the several authorities involved in the issue scramble to come up with a resettlement plan, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents have been left to fend for themselves.