Resident Welfare Association of Budhela in Vikas Puri, West Delhi, is opposing the state government’s decision to build a cultural centre on land which the residents claim was a water body.
According to RWA president Deepak Tyagi, the water body was filled up with sand, and back in 2002 it was handed over to the culture department of the state government.
“Since then not a single structure has come up. The whole one-acre plot is lying unutilised. We have written so many letters urging that it be used for a fruitful purpose. There is always a water crisis in the area. This pond could have been well maintained for water storage, especially when the government is speaking of rainwater harvesting,” added Tyagi.
In September this year, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia approved the construction of a new cultural complex of Sahitya Kala Parishad at Vikaspuri for performing arts. The decision was taken by the minister, who heads the Art and Culture Ministry, in a meeting with the Parishad.
The construction of a cultural complex on the one-acre plot of land was given the go-ahead by the board.
“This is in the interior of Vikas Puri. Why has land been allotted for a cultural centre here? And if the government is so keen on it, why has not a single structure come upon the land? It has been turned into barren land. DDA has got so many lands which can be handed over to the state for the same purpose,” Tyagi said.
Paras Tyagi, another member of the RWA, said that letters were written to the Deputy CM and the Lieutenant Governor, and an RTI query was filed seeking clarification on the status of the land, adding that any construction there would increase traffic congestion.
“At that time, the MLA was Mukesh Sharma from the Congress. We had asked him on what ground the land had been given to the state government, but were turned away. Then we questioned the DDA, which first refused to make any comment, and then, in a letter, said that they had no authority over the land,” Paras Tyagi said. He claimed that a part of the water body belonged to a village community and the DDA had seized it.
“When we approached the DDA again over the issue, they showed us a document which had the signatures of five local residents. They are elderly persons who don’t even know how to read English. They don’t even know what they have signed and why… this is when we decided to take up the matter,” Paras Tyagi said.
The former MLA, Mukesh Sharma, said that it was under his initiative that the land was given to the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation by DDA to build an amphitheatre and art gallery. “But then the constituency was divided and I lost the election.”