New Delhi: Some women protesters were detained on Sunday after they allegedly threw red chilli powder on police personnel deployed during an anti-encroachment drive here, officials said.
Nearly 1,200 square metres of government land was reclaimed during the anti-encroachment drive in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area on Friday, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said in a statement on Saturday.
The DDA has been carrying out the drive since Friday amid police security, triggering protests from local residents and a blame-game between the AAP and the BJP.
“DDA haaye haaye. Tanashahi nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi,” slogans were raised.
On Sunday, a group of women staged a protest against the demolition drive and alleged that they were lathi-charged by police personnel deployed at the spot.
Denying the allegations, a senior officer said, “There was no lathicharge and no one was injured. They (protesters) were obstructing the DDA personnel and the police.
“Some women threw red chilli powder on police personnel and a few of them have been detained. Suitable legal action will be taken.”
The DDA continued with the anti-encroachment exercise on Sunday.
On Friday, the urban body said, “During the demolition programme on 10.02.2023, approximately 1,200 sq m of government/DDA land has been reclaimed from the encroachers so far, and the exercise is on to reclaim the rest of the encroached government land for its rightful use by all citizens as a park.”
The action was taken as part of a demolition drive that will continue till March 9, officials said on Friday. It comes a month ahead of a G20 meeting planned to be hosted at the archaeological park in south Delhi.
“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 last few decades have built unauthorised structures, some, even five-storey or six-storey, in the area. A notice was issued last December and pasted on walls to alert people,” a senior DDA official had said.
The DDA started the drive on Friday in coordination with Delhi Police to remove encroachment from its land at Ladha Sarai village in Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
The park is home to about 55 monuments, including the iconic Qutub Minar, under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the state archaeological department of Delhi and the DDA, the authority said on Saturday.
Earlier, a demolition order dated December 12, 2022, was pasted on the walls of illegal structures on the land along with markings with directions to the “encroachers to remove all the unauthorised construction from the land in question within 10 days”, it said.
According to the notice, 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”.
The sprawling park is dotted with historic monuments and, while the area falls under the DDA, the heritage structures are maintained by the ASI.
Official sources said the ASI is also working in full swing for the G20 meet at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, planned to be held in early March.
“The High Court of Delhi has, on many occasions, directed the government authorities to secure, protect and preserve the area falling under Mehrauli Archaeological Park by removing illegal encroachment,” the statement said.
“The department is taking the action to remove the unauthorised/illegal encroachment from the government land and also to secure the Mehrauli Archaeological Park from encroachment,” it said.
A “demarcation exercise had been carried out as per direction of the High Court” in the presence of DDA and Waqf Board representatives by the Revenue Department of Delhi in December 2021, it said.
Clueless and now homeless
Many residents are angry with both the Delhi and Central governments. They cannot rap their minds as to how their homes can be declared illegal when they paid property tax for years.
An article from the Indian Express throws light on their woes and worries.
“This is for no fault of ours. Banks are involved since our loans have been sanctioned. Property tax is being paid. If it was illegal land then why was construction allowed in the first place? Could they not inform us then,” asks 40-year-old Praveen Prabhanjan whose building was partially demolished.
Another resident, Kusum Srivastava, whose apartment was built five to seven years ago, questions the DDA’s proactiveness in the past. “When the building was being made, what was the DDA doing? The demarcation needs to be done again,” she said as quoted by the Indian Express.
Sheetal Thakur is one of the many residents who brought a house with the help of loans and are still paying EMIs. Her four-storey building is on DDA’s radar. “We paid Rs 22 lakh and have a loan on it. The EMI was, in fact, just paid yesterday. We were living on rent in Chhatarpur before,” said Sheetal who works as a private employee.
Similarly, Lal, who moved from Agra to Mehrauli a year ago to lead a better life in the city is clueless about life.
AAP blames previous govts
Meanwhile, Delhi government Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot has ordered a fresh demarcation stating that the old one was not conducted according to the rules.
According to the minister, the old demarcation was done keeping the occupants in dark.
“Many residents of Village Ladha Sarai have represented against DDA’s demolition drive on the basis of faulty demarcation. I have advised Divisional Commissioner & DM south to carry out fresh demarcation in the presence of affected persons,” Gahlot tweeted on February 11.
The Aam Aadmi Party also tweeted about Gahlot’s announcement claiming that they have come to ‘rescue their citizens’.
(With PTI inputs)
