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MCD bulldozers yet to target `big fish'

Sandeep Joshi

Drive hit since the names of prominent politicians were included in the list of illegal structures

UP IN ARMS: Villagers protesting demolitions in Lal Dora area at Jantar Mantar on Friday. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI: Though the Municipal Corporation of Delhi might have submitted its "action taken report" to the court on unauthorised constructions carried out by around two-dozen prominent politicians, the civic body is yet to implement the Delhi High Court's order on illegal constructions in the true spirit.

Despite strict directions from the court, demolition squads are yet to target the "big fish" and influential residents who are guilty of violating building bylaws, while the entire exercise is yet to gain momentum and the civic body has on its hands the mammoth task of targeting more than 18,000 properties across the city.

In its last order, the court had emphasised that "if action is taken against the big fish, an impression will gather ground that it is not the common man alone who is being targeted and that the law is being applied to all concerned uniformly. An impression will also get created that it is the rule of law which will prevail and not the rule of jungle. We are not only hopeful, rather sure, that if such an atmosphere exists, most of the citizens will themselves come forward to demolish their unauthorised or illegal structures."

However, the MCD has so far failed to target any influential person. And in cases where it has carried out some action, it is only of cosmetic nature. "Despite the court's order, we are under immense political pressure not to take action against prominent people, particularly those who are politically well connected. So there have been occasions when we had to divert our drive to other areas by ignoring unauthorised properties of politicians. Since the drive began two months ago, not a single prominent politician has been targeted," claimed a senior MCD official.

Stating that despite the court's order, illegal constructions on large-scale was still going on in Lal Dora and unauthorised areas, the official conceded that the MCD's drive has been affected since the names of prominent politicians were included in the list of unauthorised structures. "The attention of the entire MCD administration has been diverted from regular demolition process to the properties of these leaders. Earlier it was the issue of the file of the residence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit that slowed the drive, now the leaders are trying to settle their personal score by trying to add the names of their rivals in the list," he disclosed.

Similarly, the MCD is yet to find a permanent mechanism for monitoring as well as checking unauthorised constructions in the Capital as directed by the court, besides initiating severe action against officials who ignored illegal constructions in their areas. "We are not inclined to accept that only 94 officials were involved in the coming up of such unauthorised and illegal construction. We direct the Municipal Commissioner to identify all such engineers and other officials who were involved or abetted in the coming up of such constructions and initiate major penalty proceedings against them as well," the court had stated in its order.

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