300 structures razed, vehicles impounded

NEWDELHI: In a major demolition drive at Bhagirath Palace in the walled city, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation removed permanent encroachments outside 100 shops.

The action was taken on the direction of Supreme Court, which has tasked the special task force to remove all encroachments from city’s roads and pavements. “The shop owners had encroached on pavements. Besides constructing ramps, they had even barricaded footpath by constructing dividers between shops. They were using the space for keeping their wares,” said senior North Corporation official on condition of anonymity.

“We not only removed these illegal extensions, but seized the goods kept on the pedestrian pathways by the shop owners. To our surprise, some shop owners had installed bollards at service lanes or pavements to restrict the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. We also took action and demolished all these illegal constructions,” said the official, who was present during the drive.

The North Corporation officials said that they have been receiving complaints from market associations regarding increasing number of hawkers in the area.

“We will continue the drive for next few days to clear the patch and remove squatters,” said the official.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation continued with the anti-encroachment drive i n Sarai Kale Khan, Nizamuddin Railway Station and surrounding areas at a bigger scale on Tuesday. “We removed 15 trucks of construction waste, besides targeting 40 vendors haphazardly encroaching upon public land,” said the official.

The three civic agencies retrieved 25 kilometre of stretch, demolished 200 temporary and 100 permanent structures. They also impounded 62 vehicles parked illegally on roadsides.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation impounded 15 vehicles from Pusta Road and 16 from GT Road and Durgapuri Road.