After Shaheen Bagh, bulldozers in Delhi’s New Friends Colony, Mangolpuri

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 10, 2022: A demolition drive to remove illegal structures is underway in Delhi’s New Friends Colony and Mangolpuri amid heavy security arrangements. Bulldozers rolled into these areas amid a heavy police presence, a day after the demolition drive in Shaheen Bagh. AAP MLA Mukesh Ahlawat has also been detained by the police in Mangolpuri for allegedly blocking the demolition drive.

 

Mukesh Ahlawat said. "When people have vacated the area, why is the North MCD creating an inconvenience by using bulldozers? We’re against it and it should be stopped. They need to prove first that there is an encroachment."

Delhi DCP Sameer Sharma on the anti-encroachment drive in New Friends Colony said, "Situation is completely in control. People are cooperating."

"The anti-encroachment drive is going on, local MLA (AAP MLA Mukesh Ahlawat) came here and asked what was the need to use JCBs. To prevent the drive from being getting jeopardised, we detained the MLA," he added.

Bulldozers reached Shaheen Bagh on Monday as the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) pushed ahead with its anti-encroachment drive in the locality that was the epicentre of the anti-CAA stir a few years ago.

However, dharna and sloganeering by residents and activists from the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress, the SDMC officials part of the demolition drive returned with bulldozers without conducting the exercise.

As soon as bulldozers rolled into the locality, teeming with police and paramilitary personnel, to pull down alleged illegal structures, hundreds of people gathered on the streets and atop buildings.

Many raised slogans against the authorities and staged sit-ins on the roads, while a woman protester hopped onto a bulldozer. The authorities called off the proposed demolition ordered by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

The SDMC has lodged a complaint against AAP MLA from Okhla Amanatullah Khan and his supporters at Shaheen Bagh police station for obstructing the demolition drive and preventing public servants from discharging their duties.

The protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled SDMC as well as the Centre and demanded that the action be stopped. Some women protesters even stood in front of the bulldozers to stop them from moving forward.

After SDMC officials reached Shaheen Bagh with bulldozers on Monday morning, some locals started removing "illegal structures" on their own, an official said. TV channels showed people pulling down an iron scaffolding in front of a building.

In December 2019, Shaheen Bagh was the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The sit-in, largely steered by women, was called off in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck the city.

Courtesy: India Today