The Delhi government Thursday alleged that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) had illegally demolished a “new mohalla clinic” in Karol Bagh. The public works department (PWD) filed a police complaint in the matter.

The North MCD, which is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, denied the allegation and said it was merely removing encroachment from the main road. It added that no mohalla clinic was demolished.

A flagship project of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, there are about 200 mohalla clinics across the city.

Nagendar Sharma, media advisor to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Shamefully criminal and blatantly illegal: North MCD demolishes a newly constructed mohalla clinic at Har Dayal Singh Road, Karol Bagh on a PWD Road. North MCD had no jurisdiction, no notice given and a primary health public facility destroyed for no reason.”

Kejriwal asked people to remember the civic agency’s action while going to vote in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Delhi goes to poll on May 12.

North MCD mayor Adesh Gupta denied that the structure that was removed was a mohalla clinic. “A false propaganda is being floated by Kejriwal. No mohalla clinic has been demolished by North MCD. Encroachment removal is an ongoing process and when an encroached unauthorised construction in right of way was stopped, it was given the name of a mohalla clinic to garner sympathy,” he said. “Neither the North MCD nor the Delhi traffic police received any application for a no-objection certificate to set up a mohalla clinic on Har Dayal Singh Road. Any construction without it is clearly encroachment.”

Meanwhile, the PWD on Wednesday registered a complaint about the “illegal demolition without any prior notice” at Prasad Nagar police station in Karol Bagh. “We have received the complaint and are looking into it. Appropriate action will be taken accordingly,” said MS Randhawa, DCP (central).

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 05:31 IST