Nearly 20 multi-storey buildings, a large number of shops and houses and a private school building are among the structures constructed “illegally" in the last few decades in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area in Delhi, which have been identified by authorities as part of the ‘anti-encroachment’ drive, official sources said. However, some parties have approached the court seeking a stay on the demolition action carried out by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and so only those structures will be removed which are not part of any litigation, they said.
The drive had begun on Friday and comes a month ahead of a proposed G20 meeting at the park in South Delhi. According to the DDA, the old park has about 55 monuments under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, state archeological department and the urban body.
The drive continued for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday. On Monday, action was taken in the area located near the Bhool Bhulaiyaa monument, a senior DDA official had earlier said. Several structures have been constructed “illegally" in the last few decades in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and the demolition drive is to reclaim the government land, a source said. Among such structures identified, 20 buildings are those which have multiple storeys, and there are many single-storey houses, a building of a school run by a private entity, he said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the responses of the city government and the DDA to a plea seeking a bar on demolition in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area till a fresh “demarcation report” has been prepared.
The anti-encroachment drive at Ladha Sarai village that began on Friday had triggered protests as well as a blame game between the ruling AAP and the BJP in the city.
DDA and police personnel had faced protests from many local residents during the exercise on Monday as well. A group of around 50 women had staged a protest in the locality against the drive.
They raised slogans “demanding justice" and also showed their documents to members of media present during the drive.
Officials spoke to them and pacified them, and eventually they ended their protest, a senior police officer earlier said. On Monday, a group of protesting women had thrown chilli powder at many police personnel who were deployed during the drive, he said.
The AAP on Monday had alleged that the DDA and Lt Governor V K Saxena were bulldozing people’s homes in Mehrauli despite the city government cancelling the demarcation order.
The Delhi Lieutenant Governor is the chairman of the DDA.
Officials on Tuesday said the Delhi government has pulled up the district magistrate (south) for alleged “inaction" related to the demolition drive and directed him again to carry out fresh demarcation in the area.
AAP MLA Somnath Bharti had earlier urged the Delhi Lt Governor to stop the exercise and enforce the city government’s order for fresh demarcation.
On Saturday, the Arvind Kejriwal government had asked the DDA to stop its anti-encroachment drive in Mehrauli, officials said.
Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot has ordered a fresh demarcation exercise in the area, they had said.
The minister had said the residents of the area cannot be displaced until a fresh demarcation is conducted, officials said.
The DDA had based the revenue department’s demarcation as its ground for demolition of alleged encroachments, they claimed.
Nearly 1,200 sqm of government land has been reclaimed during the “anti-encroachment drive" carried out in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area, and the exercise will continue, DDA officials had said on Saturday.
“The court has in the past taken note of the encroachment in the historic park in connection with multiple cases, and many people in the past few decades have built unauthorised structures, some even five-storey or six-storey, in the area. A notice was issued last December and it was pasted on walls to alert people," a senior official in the DDA had said on Friday. Earlier, a demolition order dated December 12, 2022, was pasted on walls of structures along with markings. It had directed to “encroachers to remove all the unauthorised construction from the land in question within 10 days".
The order said the land on which the demolition is being carried out is part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and the “existing unauthorised encroachment is acting as a hindrance to the development of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park".
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)