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MCD demolition drive in Bhalswa Dairy deferred amid protests
Demolition drive was stopped as a large crowd of protesters assembled at the site raising slogans against the MCD
New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Tuesday deferred a demolition drive in Bhalswa Dairy submitting in the high court that it will not launch the exercise till August 16, when the next hearing of the matter is due. A team of civic bodies reached northwest Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy colony with bulldozers and heavy deployment of police personnel on Tuesday, prompting locals to stage a protest against authorities.
“The demolition drive was stopped as a large crowd of protesters assembled at the site raising slogans against the MCD. Since the MCD informed the Delhi High Court that today it will not demolish the drive till August 16, we have postponed it till further order,” a senior MCD official said.
The counsel representing residents of the dairy colony approached the court later on Tuesday apprising it that MCD bulldozers with heavy police force had reached the area for demolition. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said it will take up the matter on August 16, when it will also hear a petition regarding the state of dairies in the city.
The MCD informed the Delhi High Court that it would put the demolition drive on hold in the Bhalswa Dairy colony till August 16. Meanwhile, Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner, MCD Civil Lines Zone, said the demolition drive was stalled due to less police force deployment at the site. The civic body has demanded more force to carry out the demolition in the coming days. “A large crowd of protestors had gathered at the dairy making it difficult to carry out the drive. We have asked for 500-600 police personnel to conduct the demolition later,” Kumar told PTI.
The MCD has identified 800 illegal structures in the Bhalswa Dairy colony area that have misused land allotted for dairy farming for residential and commercial purposes.
In a public notice last week, the civic body gave a three-day ultimatum to defaulters to vacate the encroached premises. It had said that enforcement action will be taken against all illegal and unauthorised constructions after the expiry of the deadline and a demolition drive will be carried out.
