Around 1,000 jhuggis, housing 8,000 people, in Delhi’s Jai Hind Camp have had no electricity since Tuesday after the power connection to their houses was disconnected. Locals say they never got a notice before “Delhi police and others” came and cut off their electricity.
The disconnection was ostensibly prompted by a May 2024 district court order, directing power provider BSES to “remove illegal meters and wires”. The order had come after a petition by 30 locals alleged that some people in the area had installed power meters on what was their land to illegally distribute electricity to others. The court confirmed the petitioners as owners of the land. The disconnection has affected even those who were outside of the land area described in the order.
However, the reason for the delay in executing the order, which came when the AAP was in power in Delhi, is not clear. Newslaundry sent questions to BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd as well as Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ask about the same. This report will be updated if a response is received.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had earlier tweeted about the power disconnection, alleging that the BJP-led government is treating Bengalis like “infiltrators in their own country”.
The sudden loss of electricity has sparked fear of eviction among residents, who are mostly Muslim migrants from West Bengal and work as sanitation workers, drivers, and domestic staff.
Battling heat, water scarcity
“Electricity is already gone, water any way comes through tanks; it wouldn't be too shocking if we receive demolition notices soon too,” claims Shareek, a garbage collector in his thirties.
Eleven-year-old Alisha hasn’t gone to school since Tuesday. She studies in class 4 in a government school in Masoodpur. Her mother, Molina, who works as a househelp in Vasant Kunj, says it is difficult for her to sleep at night because of the heat.
“She [Alisha] sleeps a little around dawn, so it is difficult for her to go to school. We manage by lighting a candle at night to cook and eat food,” says Molina.
As a Delhi Jal Board water tank approaches, women and children line up to get water. Sahara Yusuf, 52, househelp, says the camp’s residents have always depended on water tankers. “Which is fine, but electricity being shut off is a first in my 25 years of living here.”
Sahara came to Delhi 30 years ago from Guwahati and lives in the camp with two adopted children. In her one-room jhuggi, she points to a cooler and says, “We have this, but we can’t use it now. The children can hardly sleep.”
Three days in the dark and heat, the residents discuss the further repercussions. Sitting right beside a big tree surrounded by jhuggis, are a few people holding their Aadhar cards and other forms of identity. Yunus, in his mid-30s, says, “We are preparing for a court order to make sure we are rehabilitated”.
Mintu, a local resident who identifies himself as “pradhan”, along with 17 others, has filed a plea in district court against any possible demolition or eviction in the future.
Newslaundry had earlier reported how, in this year alone, Delhi saw demolition drives in various parts of the city that displaced nearly 27,000.
Land encroachment woes
The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) maintains a list of 675 JJ clusters that it recognises. Among those, DUSIB is yet to survey 173 clusters, including the Jai Hind Camp, to check their eligibility for DDA’s resettlement or in-situ development programme.
The DUSIB list recognises the camp’s land-owning authority as DDA – spread across 18,400 square metres, the camp came into being 40 years ago.
While the 2024 court order dealt with “power theft”, the first legal dispute over land came in 2014 with some individuals claiming to be owners of part of the land. The same petitioners had in 2021 moved the same court seeking eviction of inhabitants from land they claim to be theirs. That case is still subjudice. The court is likely to hear the matter again next month.
In the 2024 order, it was established that the two main electricity transferring points in the camp were a temple and a mosque, which were allegedly illegally transferring electricity to the entire camp. But residents say each house had a sub-meter and claimed they were paying bills.
“If the meter is on an encroached land then legally the state can order for the meter to be cut…if we go strictly by existing laws then considering the complex nature of these settlements there are a lot of cracks and people fall through these cracks, that is why there is a need for a more comprehensive legislation, which guarantees various kinds of rights to the urban poor,” says Akash Bhattacharya, member of AILAJ and associated with Awaas Adhikar Jan Andolan.
Newslaundry reached out to the DDA about the power disconnection and the status of Jai Hind Camp, addressing queries to Anoop Thakur (Commissioner, LM), Chittaranjan Dash (Commissioner, PM-UDAY), and N Saravana Kumar (Vice-Chairman). This report will be updated if a response is received.
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