The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation carried out a demolition drive in the Tughlakabad area of the city on Wednesday afternoon, reported ANI.
The drive was conducted nearly two weeks after the North Delhi Municipal Corporation bulldozed shops and homes, mostly owned by Muslims, in the city’s Jahangirpuri area despite a stay order by the Supreme Court.
The Jahangirpuri demolitions were carried out on April 20, just four days after the locality was hit by communal violence. Eight policemen and a civilian were injured after a clash between members of Hindu and Muslim communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.
A day after the Jahangirpuri demolition drive, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta had said that civic bodies in the city’s eastern and southern parts should also carry out demolition drives to “remove illegal encroachments by Bangladeshis and Rohingyas”.
All the three civic bodies in the national Capital are governed by the saffron party.
On April 25, Suryan had announced that the civic body will conduct a month-long demolition drive.
Suryan had said that the drive is likely to be held in Shaheen Bagh, Okhla and Tilak Nagar, among other areas in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction. However, the mayor does not have the power to order such actions.
Phase 1 of demolition drive
The demolition in Tughlakabad was carried out on Wednesday as part of the phase 1 of the civic body’s “anti-encroachment” drive, reported ANI.
The first phase will continue till May 13. According to the schedule, the demolitions will be carried out around Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and Karni Singh Shooting Range area in Tughlakabad on Wednesday.
On May 5, it will be conducted in Kalindi Kunj, in Sri Niwaspuri the next day, in Shaheen Bagh and Jasola main road on May 9.
Shaheen Bagh and Jasola main road were two of the many sites where protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act took place in 2019. Many of the protestors were Muslims.
On May 10, the demolition drive will be carried out from New Friends Colony to Buddh Dharm Mandir and around Gurudwara Road, ANI reported. The next day, it will take place in Lodhi Colony, Meherchand Market and around Sai Mandir near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
On May 12, Dhinsen Marg and Iskcon Temple Marg will see demolitions, and finally, on May 13, the drive will be carried out at the Khadda colony.
“During the anti-encroachment drives, the deployment of the police force is necessary for maintaining law and order situation in the area,” the Suryan told ANI.
Letters have been written to the south and southeast deputy commissioners of police with regard to the first phase of demolitions, Rajpal Singh, the standing committee chairperson of the central zone told the news agency.
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