Shocking: DDA sent ‘verbal notice’ to blind students on BJP councillor’s advice 

Shockingly, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the Union Ministry of Urban Development had “verbally” asked the inmates of the hostel for the blind operated for the last 17 years by the Louis Welfare Progressive Association of the Blind.

The admission is contained in a press note issued by the DDA in which it conceded that the request for getting the space vacated was made by a BJP councillor who had advised DDA to take action as per the law.

The DDA not only demolished the hostel but it also asked the 20 odd blind inmates to move to different locations in the city. They refused saying that they depended on each other and would prefer to stay together. Although the NHRC ordered DDA to lodge the students in a hotel, the DDA herded them to a nearby park and forced them into tents.

The document signed by Chief Engineer SN Singh and dated December 22, 2017 clearly shows that the agency had not given any prior written intimation. The document reads “occupants of the building were duly informed verbally by the DDA staff in advance.”

When contacted the BJP councillor Narendra Chawla denied writing any letter and claimed that he, in fact, had been helping the visually impaired students for years.

“The treatment meted out to the visually impaired students is sinful. Whosoever has committed the sin would be punished by the almighty,” he told NH while claiming that someone with vested interest might have requested DDA to vacate the plot.

Interestingly, DDA which comes under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has also written a letter to the BJP councillor on December 23, requesting him to use ‘his good office’ to persuade the affected persons to move to the building designated by the DDA on Saturday – a day after Delhi High Court sought response of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over its decision to demolish the hostel and NHRC took suo motu cognizance of the issue calling for detailed report from the Delhi government and DDA.

As many as 18 students from Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi were living in the hostel as a family. Some of them study in DU while others do the preparations for the civil services, told Kamlesh who himself is a visually impaired person and worked as the caretaker of the hostel for years.

A student of the hostel told in the condition of anonymity that role of the BJP councillor raises serious doubts. In a veiled reference to the BJP leader, he said, “you can understand who is playing the game. It is mentioned in the document released by the DDA.”

Another student who also did not wish to be named said that the BJP leader wrote letter to the DDA advising the demolition after some residents raised the issue of alleged encroachment.

After criticism from all corners the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has offered a temporary accommodation for occupants in a nearby park in makeshift tents but the visually impaired students want a permanent house.

“We demand a hostel for hostel. All of us have been left in limbo. We are forced to sleep in the open in such a freezing weather. An official from the DDA came and requested us to relocate in different shelter houses but we refused. Then they offered us to shift in a marriage hall but when we asked a written agreement, they back tracked. We want to live together,” said Kamlesh while saying that if their demands are not made they would protest in front of PM’s residence.

Demanding a probe in to the matter, Swaraj India's Delhi chief Anupam said, “Visually impaired people are interdependent and have a unique bonding when they have spent 17 years together. Shifting these blind students, whose hostel was demolished by DDA, to different places will be an injustice as it could debar them from community life.”

AAP MLA Jarnail Singh was quoted as saying, “I don’t understand why the DDA has done such an insensitive thing, that too at a time when winter is at its peak. They had not followed protocol as notices were not issued before demolishing.”