Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan and 5 others had been arrested on Thursday after native residents protested in opposition to a demolition drive in southeast Delhi’s Kanchan Kunj, with some pelting stones on the civic and police officers, who responded with a quick lathi cost, officers and eyewitnesses mentioned.
The drive by the South Delhi Municipal Company (SDMC) was the newest in a crackdown throughout the Capital in opposition to unlawful setups and building. The drive at Kanchan Kunj, which falls inside the Madanpur Khadar space close to Kalindi Kunj, focused unlawful buildings – some multi-storeyed – constructed near the Yamuna floodplains.
Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Esha Pandey mentioned Khan and 5 others have been arrested on fees of rioting and obstructing public servants from discharging their responsibility after the demolition get together was besieged by protests.
Senior cops denied that protesters had been lathi-charged, however some police personnel deployed on the web site confirmed {that a} transient, gentle lathi cost was performed to push back from the demolition web site and shield civic workers.
Safety personnel initially stopped locals about 100 meters from the location of demolition however as quickly as MCD bulldozers reached the world, MLA Khan referred to as up folks to succeed in Kanchan Kunj “to guard homes of poor folks,” an officer conscious of the matter mentioned, asking to not be named.
After a quick tussle and negotiations to halt the demolition drive with senior police officers, Khan and others sat on a dharna round 12.15pm. Three hours later, these on the sit-in, together with Khan, had been taken away by police.
“If arresting me can save the homes of poor folks, I’m prepared to get arrested. We’ve not pushed anybody, pelted any stone, raised any slogan. We’re simply saying demolition of homes ought to cease and they’re saying we’re interrupting official authorities work. They’re vitiating the environment, not us,” Khan mentioned.
In keeping with SDMC officers, 4 unlawful multi-storey buildings had been both totally or partially demolished on Thursday. No person lived within the buildings.
Encroachment elimination drives, in any other case a routine perform of the municipal firms, have come below the scanner after the North MCD’s controversial demolition drive in Jahangirpuri on April 20, days after communal clashes had been reported from the world. Opposition events blamed the BJP, which guidelines the three municipal firms, for allegedly focusing on a specific group, an allegation the get together and the civic our bodies have denied.
An FIR was additionally registered in opposition to Khan on Might 9, when he led protests in opposition to SDMC officers throughout an identical drive in Shaheen Bagh space not removed from the spot of Thursday’s demolition. Khan has been charged below part pertaining to disrupting an official from discharging his duties.
A number of UNHCR-recognized Rohingya refugees dwell in Kanchan Kunj space, however their dwellings weren’t focused on Thursday. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta has been demanding motion in opposition to Rohingya and Bangladeshi immigrants for the reason that Jahangirpuri demolitions.
Mohammed Saif, proprietor of one of many demolished buildings, mentioned: “All of my life’s financial savings are gone, and that too on my birthday. The constructing had 10 flats and one household was about to maneuver in. A number of the residents on floor flooring had been eliminated within the morning. No discover was issued to us. The police and municipal officers took bribes to permit building. We’ve bought this land, and all colonies of Delhi have come up like this with none sanction,” Saif mentioned.
Mohammed Ameeruddin, an advocate and eyewitness, mentioned that officers earlier assured that solely two buildings can be taken down. “Once we requested a couple of third constructing being demolished, a senior police official pushed the MLA and his supporters forcefully. Issues went uncontrolled following which a lathi cost was ordered and plenty of protesters had been injured,” he alleged.
SDMC officers maintained that the buildings got here up on public land and notices weren’t wanted. They mentioned the constructions had been situated on Yamuna floodplain O-zone which, in line with the Grasp Plan Delhi-2021, can don’t have any building. Zone O is unfold over 8,070 hectares alongside the Yamuna in Delhi.
“We’re interesting to different folks within the space to take down any unlawful constructions. No unauthorized building is allowed on Yamuna floodplains,” an SDMC spokesperson mentioned.
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