Residents of razed slum fight hunger, cold

A muezzins call to prayer, standing amid the ruins of what was a 'mosque', echoed across the area, punctuated with the voice of civil defence volunteers, informing people of arrangements for food, rice dipped in dollops of lentil.
Shakur Basti residents, who are in the eye of a political firestorm over a demolition drive, today struggled to stand up on their feet even as netas continued to make their way through the remains of the shanties, trudging past wailing toddlers and infirm elders.
Mohammad Anwar, father of the toddler whose death has triggered a row, reiterared his stand that he would not have lost Rukaiya, his six-month-old, had the officials involved in the demolition given the family a little more time to pack their essentials.

"They might register a case of negligence but the fact is they came all of a sudden. The moment we heard the ominous sound of the bulldozers we started packing to rescue whatever little we could around 10 AM. Little did we realise that something had fallen on her," Anwar said.
He had sent his wife and two other children, one boy aged three and a girl aged five, to a relatives' place in Gandhinagar. "I can manage here, but how long could I let her spend the nights out in this cold?"
Anwar said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi spoke to him during his visit to the area and assured him of justice. People are assuring and reassuring now let's see what fate has in store for us, he said.

After two successive nights in a state of homelessless, children, many donning 'AAP caps' were seen scurrying around in an utter state of confusion, jumping from one food stall to the other put up by political parties such as AAP, Congress as well as civil defence volunteers.

A section of the residents also vented their anger at the authorities for demolishing, what they said, was the only mosque in the area where people from "as far as Punjabi Bagh" used to pray.
"I started staying here in 1983, a year before Indira (Gandhi) was killed. Since then I have been enaged in the work of loading and unloading cement sacks. And I don't intend to leave the area as long as the railways godown is here," Mohammad Mateen, the muezzin in his late '60s, said.

Youngsters Saubul and Wahab said when they came across the notice of the demolition on Friday, they had confronted the rail authorities, who feigned ignorance and assured them of such action.
Large crowds were also seen before the only medical camp, set up by the Delhi government. DUSIB has installed few mobile toilet vans in the area, "highly inadequate" for the thousands, people complained.
The AAP government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the demolition drive and death of the six-month girl though railways has said that the incident had "nothing to do with removal of encroachments".