After protests, anti-demolition drive halted at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh
New Delhi, May 9: Following protests at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh on Monday with hundreds of people, including women, opposing an anti-encroachment drive of the SDMC, the civic body team was forced to return without carrying out the exercise.
Earlier, the protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as well as the Central Government. They demanded that action be stopped. Some women protesters stood in front of the bulldozers to stop the team from demolishing the structures.
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Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress also reached the spot and staged a dharna in protest against the anti-demolition drive. Major traffic snarls were witnessed at Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Jaitpur, Sarita Vihar and Mathura Road.
Chairman, SDMC Central Zone, Rajpal Singh said the illegal structures in the area could not be removed due to the protests by local residents.
In December 2019, Shaheen Bagh was the epicentre of protests and sit-ins against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The sit-in was called off in March 2020 amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
Last month, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) carried out an anti-encroachment drive in the Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16. The Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the drive.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing protest against the anti-encroachment drive in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the chairman of the SDMC central zone on Monday said bulldozers would be running in the New Friends Colony tomorrow (Tuesday) from 11 am.
Rajpal Singh, chairman, Central Zone, SDMC, said, "The MC has a roadmap ready for the next 15 days. Bulldozers will run in New Friends Colony tomorrow (Tuesday) from 11 am. Encroachment will be removed from Delhi without making any distinction between poor and rich."
"There have been more encroachment in Shaheen Bagh area as there are no BJP MLAs and councilors. In Shaheen Bagh area, around 50 per cent people themselves removed encroachments. The MC will remove the remaining encroachments. A former MLA and a current MLA have also done encroachment. The MC will remove these encroachments too," he added.
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He said the expenses incurred by the SDMC to remove the encroachment would be compensated by the property owners.
-PTC News with inputs from agencies
