New Delhi: It was a dream come true for 350 slum dwellers in Delhi as the state government allotted them flats on Monday.

The slum dwellers, who had been living in the slums of Nehru Camp east Delhi’s Patparganj areas for decades, had an emotional meltdown when Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia gave them allotment letters for the one-bed room flats.

The new flats are built at Sector 16B of Dwarka in West Delhi and have been constructed by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board.

A sobbing Mohammad Yasin, who had been living in Nehru Camp since 1997, said, “My jhuggi was bulldozed thrice by the authorities. I was compelled to live on the highway with my small kids. My household goods were stolen. I can’t forget those days.”

Another slum dweller added, “I never thought I will ever be able to give a pucca house to my children.”

Mr Sisodia said this was the sixth slum where residents have been rehabilitated peacefully and said that children of the slum dwellers who had been studying in east Delhi would be admitted to schools in the new place.

He further said that the Delhi government would not allow slum dwellers to be rendered homeless as this has been Aam Aadmi Party’s promise.

In September 2015, the AAP government had approved a slum policy. The main focus of the policy was in-situ (on site) rehabilitation of the slums in Delhi, with relocation only in exceptional cases.