CB BureauSlamming the Commonwealth Games, activists in Delhi are asking that the mega-event be called off.
The activists accused the CWG officials of violating and denying basic human rights to the poor and the backward in the garb of development.
‘We can still call off the Games to avoid the negative social liberties that the CWG leaves behind,’ said Miloon Kothari, Executive Director, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN).
‘The civil liberties will be curtailed because of the restrictions during the Games. Already, the debris is resulting in the spread of dengue in the capital,’ he added.
The activists alleged that thousands of families were displaced and thrown out of the city from their houses to build infrastructure for the Games.
‘Around 2,000 jhuggies (slums) in Badli were mowed down and 3,000 families in Yamuna Pushta were thrown out of the city. Sadly, 44 more slum clusters have been identified by the government which will be relocated before the Games,’ said Jawahar Singh of Jhuggi Jhopdi Ekta Manch.
Meanwhile, Rashmi Sinha of Apne Aap Women Worldwide claimed that because of the Games the capital’s sex industry was getting an unnecessary booster.
‘Girls are being trafficked from states like Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan, and are being turned into prostitutes,’ she said.
‘What’s with these condom-vending machines? They cannot be a substitute for a girl’s right to safety from sexual exploitation,’ she added.