Media Alert

12-day old child killed during forcible eviction at Shanker Garden  in West Delhi

04 January 2007

1. 637 jhuggis/slum houses in Shankar Garden behind Shankar Hospital in Vikaspuri are being demolished since yesterday. This cluster established since 1975 houses some 3,500 people, many of them migrants and contract labourers of the unorganised sector.

2. The demolition drive continued from 4 pm to 11 pm rendering population of 300 households homeless who remained without roof in the cold winter night of Delhi . The police have bulldozed 200, and didn't give women of the jhuggis any time to collect their belongings. Drivers of the bulldozers were reportedly drunk.

3. A 12-day old child was killed as police pulled jhuggis down; Pooja, the baby’s mother, says the bulldozer drivers of Municipal Corporation of Delhi did not give them any time. “I could only save one child. I could not save my baby or any of my things,” she reveals.

4. Call Reeva Sood from IndiCare at 9810005181 or ActionAid's Indu Prakash Singh at 9313327669 for more information. IndiCare is a partner organisation of ActionAid.

ENDS