Delhi’s Ongoing Slum Demolition Drive Razes Madrasi Camp
Delhi Slum Demolition drive (Image MCD Delhi)
Delhi goes in Top Gear to Clear Slums, with Action Gaining Speed
By AMIT KUMAR
NEW DELHI, June 1, 2025 – The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), in compliance with Delhi High Court orders, continued its slum demolition drive across the capital, with bulldozers razing over 300 shanties in Southeast Delhi’s Madrasi Camp, Jangpura, today.
The demolition drive, aimed at clearing encroachments along the Barapullah drain, has sparked protests, and concerns over rehabilitation. The demolition at Madrasi Camp, a decades-old settlement of largely Tamil migrant workers, began early this morning. Heavy police and paramilitary presence oversaw the demolition drive.
On May 9, 2025, Delhi High Court order had asked the DDA to clear the area from encroachment. The move is also aimed at restoring the 16-km-long Mughal-era drain. Reports said that the court order sought demolition to prevent waterlogging ahead of the Monsoon rains.
South East District Magistrate Anil Banka told PTI, “This action is being taken as per the court’s orders. The encroachments are being removed in compliance with the directive. It was becoming difficult to clean the drain.”
Hindi newspaper Navbharat Times reported that the court had ordered the demolition to commence on June 1, emphasizing the “utmost urgency” of relocating residents and de-clogging the Barapullah drain.
The Federal in a video report said that the “30-year-old slum settlement was demolished on the order of the Delhi High Court, with 370 shanties facing the action.”
Reports said that 189 families were deemed eligible for rehabilitation under the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015. They have been allotted flats in Narela, 40 kilometers away.
But the slum-dwellers had been refusing to vacate the shanties by alleging that the flats in Narela lacked amenities. They also have been claiming that there would be livelihood challenges if they relocated to Narela.
AAP, now Delhi’s principal opposition, called it a betrayal by the “double engine” government, with one leader posting, “BJP’s bulldozer raj is uprooting lives at Madrasi Camp. No proper rehabilitation, just broken promises!”
Congress Lok Sabha member Karti P. Chidambaram echoed this, writing, “Urging CM Rekha Gupta to stop this demolition—Madrasi Camp residents face a grave threat to livelihood, education, and cultural roots. Shameful neglect!” The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also condemned the move, posting, “Stop demolition of Madrasi Camp! Delhi govt must protect slums, not destroy them. Solidarity with residents!”
The drive follows earlier court orders, with the Supreme Court on May 8 directing the DDA and Delhi government to demolish illegal structures in Okhla village within three months, signaling a broader push against encroachments.
Slum demolition on court orders in Delhi is undertaken on a regular basis. In March 2025, the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea against slum demolition in Okhla’s dhobi ghat area, part of the Yamuna floodplain. Earlier drives, such as one in Shakarpur, Northeast Delhi, in August 2022, reclaimed 10 acres, according to the DDA.
Last month, the Defence Ministry reclaimed a land parcel in the vicinity of the Delhi airport after demolition drive was carried out against slums. Ministry of Defence plans to utilise the land for strategic purposes per reports.
Between April 1 and July 27, 2023, 49 demolition drives reclaimed nearly 230 acres (93 hectares) of government land, as reported by junior housing minister Kaushal Kishore to parliament. In South Delhi, a 2018 drive in Bhatti village retrieved 166 acres (800 bighas) from illegal farmhouses and structures on forest and gaon sabha lands. A 2017 operation in Chhatarpur village freed 3 acres worth ₹100 crore.
In December 2012, the DDA reclaimed 58 bighas (approximately 12 acres) in Mehrauli after removing jhuggis, though encroachments later reappeared. A 2023 drive in Mehrauli reclaimed 1,200 square meters of land in Ladho Sarai village, part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
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