Demolition drive: MCD's Bulldozers leave Shaheen Bagh; Illegal encroachment manually removed

New Delhi, May 09: Bulldozers leave Shaheen Bagh area after massive protests erupted on Monday with hundreds of people, including women, opposing the SDMC's anti-encroachment drive as bulldozers rolled into the area in presence of heavy police personnel.

Congress and AAP leaders also joined the locals to protest against the civic body's action against illegal constructions.

The illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building, was manually removed by the people even as a JCB bulldozer stood by during the proposed demolition drive in the Shaheen Bagh area of the national capital on Monday.

The locals said that the iron structure installed in front of the building was not an illegal encroachment. "It has been installed for the renovation of the building," said one of the local residents.

Protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as well as the central government and demanded that the action should be stopped. Some women protestors also stood in front of bulldozers to prevent the exercise.

Leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress also reached the spot and staged dharna against the action.

The protest also caused heavy traffic snarls in Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Jaitpur, Sarita Vihar and Mathura Road among other areas.

SDMC's Central Zone Chairman Rajpal Singh told PTI that the illegal structures could not be removed due to protests.

In December 2019, Shaheen Bagh was the centre of protests and sit-ins against Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The sit-in was called off in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic had struck the city.

Last month, an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16, drew widespread criticism. The Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the action there.