NEW DELHI: In a fresh face-off between the Aam Admi Party government in Delhi and the BJP, Delhi minister Atishi Marlena accused the Union Government of using a 'systematic' system to completely get rid of slums in Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi party in an address to media, alleged that the BJP conducted a meeting with the land-owning agencies and clearly instructed them to completely eradicate slums in the national capital.
"Two days back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advisor Tarun Kapoor held a meeting with all the land-owning agencies in which DDA, L&D, railways, and MCD officials were called and clearly instructed to get rid of all the slums in Delhi," she said.
"We have been witnessing this since a few months now that wherever there's a land of Central Government, all slums are being removed from those areas. In November, during GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan), Sunder nursery slums of Mathura were destroyed on the instructions of the Central Government" she added.
Atishi also took a jibe at the BJP for covering the slum areas with green sheets, during the G20 and US President Joe Biden's visit to India.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not want slum areas in Delhi. The slums were covered with green sheets during G20 because PM Modi does not want slums and he is planning to get rid of them completely", AAP minister Atishi said at a press conference on Friday.
Backing AAP leader Atishi's statement, Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said "Jhuggi-jhopri clusters are the reality of the society. If any slum is demolished, it is the responsibility of the government to rehabilitate the people living inside."
"In April 2020, the Supreme Court asked the Central Government to rehabilitate the people of jhuggi jhopri of Sarojini Nagar which have been demolished. Similarly, despite the orders of the Deputy Chief Minister, slums of Dhaula Kuan were also demolished, " AAP minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said during the press conference.
Earlier, in January 2023, a month after the MCD elections, AAP workers protested against the Centre over the demolition of slums.
"The BJP promised homes instead of slums before the elections but after the elections, they gave the orders to demolish the slums. They are bulldozing slums," said AAP MLA Atishi who was at the site of the protest.
