 "Wakeel Hasan along with his family at the razed site of his house in Delhi. He headed the group of rat-hole miners who rescued trapped workers in Uttarakhand, last year.")
Wakeel Hassan, a rat-hole miner by profession and hailed as a national hero for his role in rescuing 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi’s Silkyara tunnel last November, now finds himself homeless after a demolition drive by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) razed his house in Khajoori Khas Wednesday.
He intends to fight for his family as he fought for the lives of the trapped miners, putting his life on stake. He has decided to stage a hunger strike, along with his family, on the rubble of his house until he gets justice.
“I will stay put here with my family till I am relocated, now that my family is without a roof over their head,” he told Firstpost.
Talking to Firstpost, Hassan alleged that only his house has been targeted by the authorities, that too without any prior notice or intimation.
“We rescued 41 people in the Silkyara tunnel and in return I got this. Earlier, I had requested the authorities and the government to give only this house to us as a reward but to no avail. Today, without any information, DDA came and demolished it,” Hasan told Firstpost.
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View AllHasan told Firspost that he has been living in this house since 2013. The authorities initiated legal issues against the construction in 2016.
The DDA defended the demolition, stating that it was carried out on land designated for planned development.
According to a statement from the DDA, the drive aimed to remove encroachments from acquired land in village Khajoori Khas.
Sharing a video of the demolished area, Hassan revealed that his house was destroyed during the drive. He also mentioned having to visit a police station regarding the incident, accompanied by Munna Qureshi, another member of the Silkyara tunnel rescue team.
Qureshi alleged they were beaten up by the police during the confrontation. However, a Delhi Police officer stated that assistance was provided to maintain law and order during the drive, which targeted several illegally constructed structures.
Hassan and five other members of the rat-hole mining team reside in Khajoori Khas, while the rest are from Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr.
Their expertise in special mining techniques proved vital in the rescue operation at the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 workers were trapped for around 17 days following a tunnel collapse.
Hasan told Firstpost that he will not leave the razed site until government officials do not do justice with him. Hasan recalled how several political leader including Samajwadi Chief Akhilesh Yadav, Cabinet minister Nitin Gadkari and others felicitated him after his team rescued the trapped workers last year, but at a time when his family is homeless, no one has offered any help yet.