The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Thursday put the brakes on its bulldozers and halted the first phase of its anti-encroachment drive till May 8 due to the non-availability of adequate police protection.
According to a senior SDMC official, the plan to demolish temporary and permanent encroachments from roads and Government land in the Kalindi Kunj-Jamia Nagar area near Shaheen Bagh and in Sriniwaspuri was cancelled till Sunday, due to the unavailability of an adequate police force.
The SDMC's Central Zone Chairman, Rajpal Singh told The Pioneer that the drive was cancelled, following a communication from the Delhi Police stating that adequate police force was not available to maintain law and order in the area during the demolition. “We will reschedule the drive that was supposed to take place in the Kalindi Kunj-Jamia Nagar area today. The civic body has also asked Delhi Police to provide us with a sufficient number of police personnel to peacefully conduct the demolition drive. On May 9, the SDMC will hold the demolition drive in Shaheen Bagh G Block to Jasola and Jasola Nale to Kalindi Kunj Park as planned.”
Shaheen Bagh, was in the limelight for being the venue of the sit-in protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December 2019. The protests were called off only after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the city in March 2020.
In April, the SDMC cancelled its anti-encroachment drive scheduled in Jasola and Sarita Vihar, due to the unavailability of an adequate police force. The drive comes a couple of days after the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the Mayors of South and East corporations seeking the removal of encroachments by alleged “Rohingyas, Bangladeshis and anti-social elements" in their areas. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) conducted an anti-encroachment drive in the violence-hit-Jahangirpuri area just four days after communal violence broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession. The Supreme Court had to intervene twice to stop the drive and ordered the NMC to maintain status quo.