Contradictory to its name which says development, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is nowadays bringing down the homes of the visually impaired, forcing them to live on the streets.
On December 15, the DDA demolished the Louis Welfare Progressive Association of the Blind located in Janakpuri’s Virendra Nagar.The 20 visually impaired students residing in the blind hostel are now forced to live in the open in Delhi’s biting cold mixed with smog and pollution.
The DDA demolished the hostel claiming that it was built on a public land. Doesn’t that mean it is meant to serve the public and therefore also the students who were living there?
Many of the students have lost their educational and medical documents, most of which were not in published in braille which has made it very difficult for the students to find them.
The Delhi High Court has sought response from DDA regarding the demolition and asking them to submit a report with the details of the place where the students are shifted.
The DDA said on Friday as reported by the Hindustan Times that the students would be temporarily accommodated to a nearby community hall in Janakpuri on ‘humanitarian’ grounds and later they will be shifted to a blind hostel of Delhi social welfare department.
Till this happens the students have to keep suffering. The authorities brought down the hostel without shifting the students before hand and that is why they are living in the open under the tents.
The High Court benched by the Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar has started its proceedings against the authorities after coming across a news report where it was reported that the students were neither informed about the demolition nor were given time to gather their belongings which left them in a mess.
The occupants are mostly the students of Delhi University or the nearby Sarvodaya School.The destruction has rendered them homeless with no means to contact their relatives as they lost their phones and other gadgets during the blowing up of the place.
This insensitive action of the DDA is being harshly criticized by the High court and The National Human Rights Commission. Despaired by the natural means these students somehow managed to settle themselves in the mainstream coping up with unfavorable circumstances of their lives but such inconsiderate actions of the public organizations like DDA tend to discourage their spirits.
Already a week has gone by but no development has been seen in the situation of the students as yet. We hope that intrusion of the Delhi High Court in the matter will speed up the rehabilitation process.