The High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Delhi government and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) seeking their response on a plea seeking stay on the demolition of houses and shops in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park till a fresh demarcation report is prepared. Justice Mini Pushkarna has issued notice on the petition of Mehrauli Minorities Resident and Shop Owners Welfare, refusing to interfere in the demolition action for the time being. Also directed that the petition be placed before a division bench headed by the Chief Justice where a similar petition is already pending. He said that the bench will pass further orders in the matter only after the hearing is held on February 17.
It is worth mentioning that the officials have identified about 20 multi-storeyed buildings, a large number of shops and houses and a private school building in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park as structures that were built illegally in the last few decades. Officials said after some parties moved court to stay the demolition of these structures, only those structures which are not part of any litigation would be removed. The campaign was launched last Friday, a month before a proposed G20 meeting at this park in South Delhi.
DDA’s bulldozer ran for the fifth day
The DDA ran bulldozers on about six houses in Mehrauli for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday. During this people opposed the action of DDA. The affected showed the documents of their houses, justifying the action of DDA. They raised slogans against the DDA, but they didn’t do anything in front of the Delhi Police personnel and they kept watching their houses being demolished.
DDA officials along with Dalbal arrived in Mehrauli to carry out the sabotage operation. As soon as the demolition squad arrived, people started protesting. People justified their houses by justifying the action of DDA. They also showed the papers of their houses, but the DDA officials did not listen to them and remained adamant on the demolition action. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police pushed the people back. After this people started raising slogans against DDA, but their protest did not work and DDA started demolishing the houses. Here the DDA has identified 20 multi-storey buildings, a large number of shops and houses and a private school building for demolition.
Due to the carelessness of the department houses are being broken: BJP
A delegation led by BJP National Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday regarding the Mehrauli issue. During this, a demand was made to stop the sabotage campaign by informing about the problems.
BJP leaders accompanying the affected people told the Lt Governor that most of the people have been settled for four decades and have house registrations. Along with this, they have also got bank loans. Due to the negligence of the revenue department of the Delhi government, due to the wrong maps, people’s homes are facing trouble. After an hour-long meeting with the delegation, the Lt Governor assured that he would not allow any unauthorized house to be demolished and would ensure that no action was taken without completing the administrative process.
Along with this, he also assured to stop the demolition work on the houses immediately. After the meeting, Baijayant Jai Panda, Working President Virendra Sachdeva and MP Ramesh Bidhuri told that the Lieutenant Governor has given a big relief by assuring to stop the sabotage with immediate effect.
