Anti-encroachment drive: 9 Bulldozers enter Jahangirpuri; local mayor calls it a 'routine exercise

New Delhi, Apr 20: Heavy police and paramilitary forces were deployed in violence-hit Jahangirpuri ahead of Wednesday's anti-encroachment drive in the area, even as the local mayor called it a "routine exercise".

The drive is undertaken a day after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the party-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to identify illegal constructions of "rioters" in Jahangirpuri and demolish them using bulldozers.

"Our JCBs (excavators) and staff will go to Jahangirpuri to remove illegal encroachment from roads and government land. It is our routine exercise. We will execute it and return," Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said.

Officials said security forces were carrying out a flag march in the area and they took stock of the situation before the drive was launched. A drone has also been deployed to monitor the situation.

Ahead of the drive, people in Jahangirpuri C Block voluntarily removed their belongings from roadsides, they said.

The NDMC had on Tuesday requested the Delhi Police to provide at least 400 security personnel to maintain law and order during the two-day drive.

The area witnessed violent clashes, including stone pelting, arson and firing, between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday. Eight police personnel and a local resident had sustained injuries.