'Verbal Assurance': Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue Hero Declines DDA's Temporary Shelter Offer Post-Demolition

Wakeel Hassan was the leader of the 12-member team of ‘rat-hole’ miners from Rockwell Enterprises who successfully rescued the 41 trapped workers from the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel in Uttarkashi district. (PTI file photo)

Hours after razing his house in a demolition drive, DDA offered to move Wakeel Hassan, a rat-hole miner who was part of the Silkyara tunnel rescue operation, and his family to a temporary accommodation but he declined the offer, sources said on Thursday.

Hassan told PTI that Delhi Development Authority (DDA) officials also told him that he would soon be provided a house in the Govindpuri area but he refused to accept the offer as it was only a “verbal assurance”.

Some TV channels showed Hassan and his family sitting and having dinner amid the rubble of what used to be their home.

He spent the night on a footpath with his wife and their two children. The family’s neighbours’ provided them food and other necessary items.

Hassan’s house was razed in a demolition drive carried out by the DDA in northeast Delhi’s Khajoori Khas area. Several other houses were demolished during the drive.

In a video message released on Wednesday, Hassan said his house had been demolished, rendering him and his family homeless.

Not long ago, the rat-hole miner was feted for his role in rescuing with his team 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi’s Silkyara tunnel in November last year.

A DDA source told PTI that agency officials met Hassan on Wednesday night.

“Some DDA officials went to the demolition site and offered to move Hassan and his family to a temporary accommodation but he refused the offer,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Hassan said he wants authorities to make their offer in writing.

“Around midnight, some DDA officers came and offered to shift me and my family to a guest house in Vasant Kunj,” Hassan told PTI.

He claimed the DDA officials also told him that “a house will also be provided in the Govindpuri area soon, but I refused to accept their offer because the assurance was verbal”.

Hassan had alleged on Wednesday that no notice was served to him before the demolition.

“We rescued 41 people from the Silkyara tunnel and got this in return. Earlier, I had requested the authorities and the government to give this house to me but to no avail. Today, without any (prior) information, DDA (officials) came and demolished it,” he had said.

The DDA had said the demolition drive was carried out on land that was “part of planned development land”.

Police said several structures built illegally were demolished during the drive.