The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Friday conducted a demolition drive in the city’s Mehrauli area amid police presence, leading to stiff opposition from local residents and AAP leaders.
During the day, as people approached the Delhi High Court, authorities were directed to maintain status quo and put on hold the demolition of 400 jhuggis of a slum cluster and several other buildings in the area.
The court will now hear these petitions — one against the demolition of the slum cluster and four separate pleas for multiple buildings in the area — on February 14 and 16, respectively.
A senior DDA official said a few two- and three-storey buildings have been demolished while the total encroachments to be removed — which mostly comprise concrete buildings — are spread out across an area of “20 acres”.
According to a senior police officer, four persons, including Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti, were detained during the drive for trying to obstruct the police, and released later. The officer said around 22-23 structures have been demolished that were a mix of partial and proper structures, but no jhuggis were razed on Friday.
Security officials remove a resident protesting to stop the demolition drive in Mehrauli on February. | Photo Credit: AFP
AAP protests
Attacking the BJP over the drive, AAP alleged that before the MCD elections last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre had promised homes to people in slums under the ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahi Makaan’ scheme, but the BJP was now demolishing houses in Mehrauli. “The BJP is making the poor bear the brunt for its defeat in the MCD polls by bulldozing slums in Delhi,” AAP MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said.
Aftab Alam, a wheelchair user who was present during the drive, said he feared that the nearby slum cluster where he lives would be the next one to be razed. He said the authorities have conveyed that more such drives would follow. “They can come for our homes anytime,” he said.
According to a DDA official, the land belongs to the agency and it is part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
“Removing all the encroachments will take time,” the official said, adding that there was a confusion over the demarcation of the land, but that has been resolved with the help of the Delhi government’s Revenue Department and the DDA’s Land Management Department. “Whatever encroachment falls within our land, according to the demarcation report, will be removed,” he added.
