Claiming that the recently launched National Urban Renewal Mission was aimed at developing 83 cities by displacing the poor, the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, and environmental activist Medha Patkar on Friday led a large number of urban poor in protest against the scheme on Parliament Street. The protesters courted arrest outside the Parliament Street police station. Addressing the activists, Mr. Singh lamented that the Government was neglecting the urban poor even when their services were needed for the overall growth of the economy. Most of the poor worked in the domestic and unorganised sectors and had no social security, he said. The state not only failed to provide them a roof over their head, but were also driving them out asit did not want slums.