Demolition rubble piles up, triggers jams 20km road cleared as drive continues
NEW DELHI: The special task force (STF) might have been working towards removing encroachments on public spaces following Supreme Court’s orders, but the debris from these demolition drives has become the new cause of traffic blockade.
The concrete remains of the drive against illegal extension of shops and other illegal structures lie on roadsides, blocking traffic, while the agencies in the STF merely pass the blame to each other for not disposing this waste.
Besides removing unlicensed squatters and illegally parked vehicles on roadsides, the STF has also been assigned the task of removing any permanent structure or extension of shops beyond the permitted limit.
The problem, however, is the lack of clarity on the agency responsible for clearing the waste. The result is that the concrete remains of the sections of extensions that have been pulled down during the drives remain stacked on the sides, blocking passage.
Manohar Pal, a businessman in Pitampura, said the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has been demolishing structures that were beyond the stipulated building line for over a week now. However, the part that has been pulled down is lying on roadsides with no one to clear it.
“I had asked the officials that who is responsible for clearing the rubble, but no one had any idea about it. The encroachment drive is being carried out to decongest roads but this waste is creating road blocks,” Pal said.
Since the drive started, the entire market lane on the Kohat Enclave and Pitampura side has been dug up with cement blocks and bricks blocking the way. Similar scenes can be seen around markets such as Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, and Karol Bagh.
An official of the north corporation privy to the drive agreed they are not allowing the demolition waste to be taken to the construction and demolition waste plants because there is no clarity on this matter from the Court.
“We have no problem in taking the waste to our plants but it needs to be put out clearly. We do not want the public to suffer but when the drives involve too many agencies, it creates problems,” the official said. NEW DELHI: The three civic agencies continued their action against squatters and shopkeepers encroaching upon public space across the city on Tuesday as officials said they removed squatters from 20 kilometres of area in the Capital.
Officials from the North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations said on Tuesday that they impounded 75 vehicles, removed 120 temporary and 50 permanent structures.
The North corporation said it removed squatters from Punjabi Bagh flyover to Ashoka Park Main, Tikona Park to DB Gupta Road , Shyama Prasad Mukherji Marg to Old Delhi Railway Station, Delhi Engineering College to Shahabad Village and Burari bypass to Nathupura Mor.
“We even sealed 40 shops in last five days located in Rohini and Mangolpuri areas after they were found to be encroaching upon public land again and again despite repeated warnings. We have asked them to submit an affidavit for not encroaching upon government land in future and only after that we will de-seal their shops,” said Kapil Rastogi, deputy commissioner, Rohini zone.
In south Delhi, action was taken at Hukum Chand Marg, Harsukh Marg and Jhandu Singh Marg in Safdarjung Enclave, Green Park Extension, Lajpat Nagar IV, Dwarka Mor and Uttam Nagar Terminal.
“An encroachment removal action was undertaken from the Gurugram border to the Kapashera traffic signal in Najafgarh Zon,” said an SDMC official.
In east Delhi, a joint action was carried by the licensing branch from Patparganj Drain to Madhuban Enclave and Vikas Marg, civic officials said.