NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi stepped up its demolition drive on Friday razing a farmhouse at Chattarpur in South Delhi besides targeting a number of properties at Malviya Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, South Extension and Kailash Hills even as around 500 illegal shops operating from residential areas were sealed during the day.

The MCD squad demolished an unauthorised farmhouse built in 7,000 sq.ft. area in Chattarpur. Similarly, around half-a-dozen illegal structures were razed at Malviya Nagar while a huge commercial property at South Extension facing Ring Road also faced the civic body's bulldozers.

The demolition squad also cleared encroachment from 25 properties at Kailash Hills, while an unauthorised third floor of a property was razed at Lajpat Nagar-I.

The entire drive went off peacefully. However, led by their MLA Subhash Chopra, local people protested at Kalkaji against the MCD's sealing and demolition drives. "When the Government cannot provide jobs and houses to people, it has no right to uproot them or make them jobless. People have built houses and shops to meet their requirements. The Government should regularise their shops and houses as there was no other way out," said Mr. Chopra. The MLA and some of his supporters also courted arrest in protest.

Meanwhile, continuing with its sealing drive, the MCD squads targeted illegal shops in nine civic zones covering several areas and roads including East of Kailash, Nand Nagri, Paschim Vihar, Indraprastha Extension, Patparganj, Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri, Inderlok, Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj, Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, Raja Dheer Singh Marg, Idgah Road and Mehrauli Road.

A total of 74 shops were sealed in Shahdara-South followed by Central (72), Civil Lines (53), Karol Bagh and Rohini (50 each), Najafgarh (47), Sadar Paharganj (43), West (28) and Shahdara-North (15). The civic body squads also de-sealed around 350 shops during the day.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail