DDA frees land from squatters
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority on Thursday cleared encroachments on a piece of land near south Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan. The l and was encroached upon by furniture traders for the last two years, DDA said.
Accompanied by a police team, a team of DDA officials arrived at the land and demolished several temporary structures. “The land measuring 2,000 square metres belongs to us, but had been occupied by around a dozen traders who mainly dealt in used furniture. They had been illegally using our land for business since 2016,” said a DDA official.
“The action was taken as part of an ongoing drive to remove encroachment from our land. This is as per court orders. We had earlier issued them a notice to vacate it, but they had not complied,” said the official.
The authority plans to construct a fence around the reclaimed area. “We have been carrying out this drive in parts of the city. We will fence the reclaimed land and put up warning board,” said the official.
Police said they had accompanied the DDA team as a security measure. “But the anti-encroachment drive was carried out without any trouble,” said a police officer. NEW DELHI: Two days before the deadline set by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to make all city roads pothole-free, the public works department (PWD) officials claimed that 90% of the repair work has been completed.
The PWD manages 1,260 km roads across the national capital. Kejriwal, on November 13, had given an ultimatum to the PWD to repair all broken roads by December 15.
In the order, Kejriwal had said the PWD secretary should give a certificate on December 15 that all PWD roads have been repaired and, thereafter, several teams of citizens, led by MLAS, would inspect the roads on December 16.
On November 14, PWD minister Satyendar Jain had set up a timeline for the repair work and directed officials to submit an action taken report to the PWD engineer-in-chief after conducting post-repair inspections.
PWD officials say the task has been completed, except for a few stretches where they could not get permission for maintenance owing to ongoing utility works of other agencies (Jal Board, telecommunication agencies and BSES, among others).
“We have completed 90% repair works. Most engineers have submitted status reports. The remaining work, where we are yet to get permission, will be completed soon,” a senior PWD official said.
He said in east Delhi, roads were congested and traffic heavy. Hence, wear and tear was frequent. In south Delhi, roads were dug up to facilitate the works of several agencies. “We have repaired roads where we were given permission. We are hopeful of meeting the deadline,” he said.