NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Tuesday postponed a planned demolition operation in Bhalswa Dairy, informing the High Court that it will not proceed with the action till August 16, when the court is scheduled to hear the matter again.
A team from the civic body had arrived at northwest Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy colony with bulldozers and a heavy police presence, sparking protests from local residents. A young protestor, Gaurav Gujjar said “My family has been residing here since 1976 and the authorities are planning to uproot us. Where will we go?”
Jitender Kumar, another protestor who has been residing in Bhalswa Dairy for the last five decades, said, “This is a complete arrogance of the authorities. Why should we change our place? We are not going to move an inch from where we are residing.”
Member of Parliament from northwest Delhi, Yogendra Chandolia also reached the spot and pacified the protestors. While speaking to the media, Chandolia said some alleged NGOs in Delhi “want to destroy” 12-13,000 dairy people. “The demolition drive was stopped as a large crowd of protestors assembled at the site raising slogans against the MCD. Since the MCD informed the Delhi High Court that today it will not demolish drive till August 16, we have postponed it till further order,” a senior MCD official said.
Lawyers representing the residents approached the court later in the day, informing it that MCD officials, accompanied by police forces, were on site to carry out the demolition. The High Court bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, stated that the matter would be addressed on August 16, along a petition concerning the condition of dairies in Delhi.
“A large crowd of protestors had gathered at the dairy making it difficult to carry out the drive. We have asked for 500-600 police personnel to conduct the demolition later,” said Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of the MCD Civil Lines Zone.
The MCD has identified approximately 800 illegal structures within the Bhalswa Dairy colony, where land originally designated for dairy farming has been repurposed for residential and commercial use.
In a public notice last week, the civic body gave a three-day ultimatum to defaulters to vacate the encroached premises. It had said that enforcement action will be taken against all illegal and unauthorised constructions after the expiry of the deadline and a demolition drive will be carried out. In July, the court had instructed authorities to remove unauthorised constructions in all dairy colonies across Delhi and directed immediate steps to relocate dairies from Bhalswa to Ghogha dairy colony within four weeks.
The court directed the agency to carry out a survey of the Bhalswa Dairy colony to identify misuse of dairy plots that have been converted into dwelling units and shops and are being misused for industrial purposes.