Mcds do not act against defacement of puBlic property

The three MCDs (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) have not acted on the letter issued by the Delhi University last month to take “strict action” against defacement of public property during the recently concluded Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections. Though several public properties, including sign boards, walls and metro pillars across the National Capital, have been defaced with election posters and graffiti publicising the names of the candidates and political parties, the MCDs failed to identify and take any action against the violators of the Delhi Defacement of Public Property Act 2007. The letter, which the Delhi University had written to the MCDs, said, “Every year, we see tonnes of paper lying on the roads, defacing public property. As per the Defacement of Property Act, nobody is allowed to deface public property.” The Act says that defacement includes impairing or interfering with the appearance, damaging, disfiguring, spoiling or injuring of property in any way, which includes any building, hut, structure, wall, tree, fence, post, pole or any other erection. Violaters shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to one year, or with fine, which may extend to Rs 50,000, or with both. The MCDs have, however, said that they have not received any such letter from the Delhi University. Sanjeev Nayaar, Mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, told The Sunday Guardian, “I am not aware of any such notice, but defacement of public property is an offence and we need to identify them and punish the culprits.” A spokesperson of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said that even he is unaware of any such notice. “Such notices do not come to the headquarters but are received by the area engineer.” However, Prof. D.S. Rawat, Chief Electoral Officer of DUSU who had issued the notice, said, “The notice which we issued is very much in the public domain.” The Ridge, considered the city’s lungs, has been ignored for long and forested Ridge areas are being destroyed under the onslaught of real estate constructions and encroachment. Though the Aam Aadmi Party had mentioned the Ridge in its election manifesto, that hasn’t helped matters and the Ridge continues to suffer due to poor state planning and neglect by successive governments.

Researchers here rue the continuous expansion of the capital in irregular and unequal proportions, putting more pressure on the Ridge. What is most worrying is that the “settlement process” required by a 1996 notification by the Delhi administration that gave the Delhi Ridge the status of a reserved forest, has still not been completed.

Thomas Crowley, a researcher with Delhi-based Intercultural Resources, who has been working on the capital’s political ecology for six years, said, “The Ridge is a fundamental part