NEW DELHI: The Special Task Force (STF), constituted to enforce the Supreme Court’s order for removal of encroachments in Delhi, has initiated action against illegal establishments after a hiatus.
In the last four days, unauthorised structures and encroachments were demolished in several colonies such as Jangpura, Lajpat Nagra, Mehar Chand Market, Sarai Julliana, Subhash Nagar, Chitra Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Khuraiji.
Anurag Jain, the vice chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), who also heads the STF, was informed about the action taken during the special panel meeting on Friday. A DDA official said that till June 2020, the agencies had cleared approximately 400 hectare encroached area. About 11,500-km of road and street and footpath were also made encroachmentfree.
“Atleast 45,000 vehicles and 1.5 lakh articles were seized and seven lakhs challans have been issued. People can lodge their complaints against illegal construction and encroachment with the STF through DDA’s portal and Smart City-311 (mobile application) or email.”
“Till date, approximately 51,000 complaints have been received out of which Action Taken Report (ATR) on 38, 000 cases have been taken. These ATRs are submitted to the Supreme court every 15 days for their appraisal,” the official said. In the meeting, Jain directed all concerned agencies to coordinate with each other to fix the programme for removal of encroachment and unauthorised construction.
“Jain also emphasised that protection of land and removal of encroachments is of the utmost priority and all measures should be taken.”
“To be more effective in the future, it was unanimously decided that all the members and departments would work in close coordination and prioritize the pending cases for taking action. The members assured that they will review the pendency and shall start action in right earnest of which the results can be seen in the next meeting,” said the official. In April 2018, the apex court told the Centre to rid Delhi of all encroachment on public land within two weeks.