An anti-encroachment demolition drive was carried out in Jamia Nagar last Friday under heavy police presence. “A demolition drive is ongoing in Jamia Nagar, where more than 100 police personnel have been deployed. No one will be allowed to disturb law and order,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said that day.
Jhuggis located near the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, behind Zakir Nagar, were demolished. In recent weeks, the frequency of such drives has increased, with earlier operations conducted at Bhoomiheen Camp, the Madrasi Camp area, and Taimoor Nagar in close proximity to the locality.
It all began when BSES officials arrived to disconnect electricity, a video of which later surfaced online, according to a resident. As expected, bulldozers rolled into Jogabai Extension in Zakir Nagar just days after eviction notices had been pasted on the walls of the jhuggis, urging residents to vacate.
Around 50 slum dwellings near the Yamuna riverbank were razed in the operation carried out by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) with police forces on site. The demolition left dozens of families homeless and scrambling for shelter as it started raining also in the afternoon.
Residents said they had been given just about eight days’ notice. Even so, many were distraught and angry. “We’ve been living here for 30 years. No proper notice was given. Today everything was torn down,” said an elderly rickshaw puller. “I managed to save a few things, but most of it is buried under the rubble.”
Another woman stood in front of the debris, clutching her small child and weeping. “It’s the rainy season. Where will we go now? We’ve lived here all our lives, my children grew up here. Now they’ve thrown us onto the streets.” For many families, this site was the only home they had ever known.
Several residents claimed they were unaware that the land belonged to the DDA.
A young mother with two children said: “We got just eight days to vacate. Tell me, where can we find a room in Delhi in a few days? We have nothing left but the road now.”
Some evicted families had migrated here years ago from Uttar Pradesh and other States of India. One woman, who said she had been living there for 20 years, added: “We built this jhuggi with our own money. And now, in just eight days, they came and destroyed everything.”
On the ground, broken coolers, clothes, utensils, gas cylinders, and furniture lay strewn along the roadside. Some residents managed to salvage a few belongings, stacking them under building porches and flyovers to shield them from the rain. Children clung to their parents, many crying as they watched their homes reduced to rubble.
Many of the evicted worked as ragpickers, daily wage laborers, or rickshaw pullers. Residents lamented that the demolition also destroyed their means of livelihood carts, scrap material, and even a small e-rickshaw stand that had been set up nearby. “We are poor people. Even the bricks and tin sheets are being loaded onto trucks. We couldn’t even save half of our belongings,” said a man, standing in mud.
As bulldozers continued to clear the site, a large crowd gathered at the edges some huddled under umbrellas, others trying to shield their children from the rain.
“No leader has come to see our condition. No help, nothing. We are just left here to fend for ourselves,” one man said bitterly as he watched the bulldozers retreat.
As the area on the periphery of Zakir Nagar, near the Yamuna and close to the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, is home to several jhuggis with migrant residents, local leaders were noticeably absent during the demolition. One YouTuber remarked that since most of the residents are from other states and do not vote locally, no leader seemed to care about them, leaving them to fend for themselves without any help or food during the crisis.
