BULLDOZERS IN CITY
man of SDMC’S central zone. He described the structures removed as those blocking roads and footpaths.
The drives were carried out by all three municipal corporations of Delhi – the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD), the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), each of which are controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are on the verge of their terms ending in less than a fortnight, after which a process will begin to unify them under a new, combined Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Encroachments have been a persistent problem in the national capital with illegal businesses, residential enclosures, and makeshift structures eating into road space, choking several parts of the city. There have been persistent calls from both residents and urban planners that these be removed.
Atul Goel, who heads the United RWAS Joint Action (URJA) — a collective body of resident welfare associations — described the scale of encroachment in the city as “staggering” and said the Capital is headed towards a planning crisis.
“MCDS were avoiding the issue due to political reasons. This problem exists in both planned and unplanned colonies. Encroachment has become a structural planning failure and piecemeal measures in form of small drives will not work,” he said.
The recent drives, however, have snowballed into a political controversy.
Last month, the municipal corporations carried out demolition work shortly after communal clashes in Jahangirpuri, triggering allegations from opposition parties that it was meant to target those from minority communities at the behest of BJP leaders.
The party, and the municipal corporations, have denied the allegations.
On Monday, SDMC’S attempts to carry out a similar drive failed at Shaheen Bagh area, the epicentre of the 2019 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), after massive protests in the area.
Shortly around 10am on Tuesday, teams from the three civic bodies with earth-digging machines, trucks and workers started removing encroachments in New Friends Colony, Vasant Kunj D-block, Raghubir Nagar, Sunder Nagari, and Mangolpuri.
In New Friends Colony, several residential violations were targeted while a large police force stood by. Structures on a 2km stretch from near Bodh Dharm Mandir on the Gurudwara road to Ashok Park road in the B-block and C-block areas were removed, including boundary walls and fences in front of houses. An SDMC official, who asked not to be named, said a total of 12 sheds were removed in these areas.
BM Bakshi, a member of the resident welfare association in the area, said that the problem of encroachment is real, but the civic body should have first allowed residents a chance to remove the extensions voluntarily. “No one will defend a wrongdoing through encroachments. There were many street vendors who were not here when the drive occurred,” he added.
There was also resentment by many traders, who said the action was inequal in how it targeted violations.
Susheel Kumar, a property shop owner, said flower pots and goods kept outside shop were taken away. “People have doubled shop areas by making permanent structures. It is strange logic by MCD that temporary things can be removed while permanent illegality stays,” he alleged.
In north Delhi, a large number of illegal setups by street vendors were taken down at Y-block of Mangolpuri. A civic official said the people had been warned to remove their shops three days ago. “Majority of goods and carts had been taken away by vendors but the drive cleared temporary sheds and structures of these outlets,” said a senior official, asking not to be named. Police personnel arrived here at 8am and barricaded the approach roads to avoid a situation similar to Monday’s, and drones were sent up to keep an eye on any gathering protest nearby.
Local politicians came out to object the use of bulldozers, and Aam Aadmi Party MLA Mukesh Ahlawat and former area MLA from Congress Jai Kishan were briefly detained by the police.
The Delhi government did not respond to HT’S request for a comment.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it was “shocking to see Aam Aadmi Party and Congress leaders provoking people against anti-encroachment drives”.
“In fact today people saw the sitting AAP MLA and former Congress MLA trying to brow beat each other during their vested interest protest in favour of encroachers,” he added.