Thread by @Roshsd

Imagine this:

You and your family have toiled for years to construct your modest home. You barely make ends meet but somehow saved enough to build a roof over your head. It still lacks adequate water & sanitation and electricity facilities. Safety is a constant concern.

Thread.

Then, out of nowhere, the pandemic hits you. You and your partner lose your jobs and have no source of income. You have 3 children dependent on you. You don't know when you will get a job again. The only recourse is to depend on government schemes that can put food on the table.

But, information on the schemes is scarce. Different people tell you different things, some try to make money off of you, all while there is a mounting fear about a deadly virus. You can't access proper healthcare services so you can only hope that you don't contract it.

A few months in, things start to open up and one of you goes back to work. You do odd jobs, work long hours and jeopardise your health, all while making less than before. But, it is a source of income so you grit your teeth and do it to keep the household running.

Then, one day, you're informed that the house you built, the only safe space for your family in the middle of a health crisis, is going to be demolished within 3 months. The land is not yours so you have no say.

Your children are going to lose the only home they have ever known.

Yes, you're located on Railway land which is not the safest. But, your house is being demolished with you having no agency.

Various parties hold a stakeholder meeting where you, the person whose home is under question, are excluded.

You are not a stakeholder in your own fate.

If you are being thrown out of your home in the middle of a pandemic, when unemployment rates are soaring, shouldn't you at least be provided with an alternative? Shouldn't your family be given a place to go to?

Something to replace the home you are losing.

A place that has basic amenities: drinking water, a toilet, and electricity. A place not far from your previous home. A place close to your only source of income.

With no public transport, you stand to lose your job if you cannot commute.

You and 50,000 other families are going to end up homeless and on the streets. At a time when you can't afford alternative housing. When your children's education is stalled. With the unkind Delhi winter around the corner.

All while a pandemic rages on.

How are you not outraged?

Follow @delhievictions for updates.

We cannot allow 2,50,000 people to end up homeless. It is a crime against humanity.