New Delhi, Amid much hullabaloo created over the anti-encroachment drive in Shaheen Bagh, the South MCD was able to find only one temporary construction objectionable which was eventually removed by the resident himself. Only a scaffolding was removed outside a residential building in today’s demolition drive. It was set up to paint the building, according to the locals. The residents of the building requested the MCD officials to not raze the structure with the bulldozer and eventually removed the scaffolding by themselves. The South MCD’s bulldozer was sent away soon after. The residents while speaking to UNI claimed the area had no illegal construction. “All the encroachment here was already removed from here. That’s why the officials were not able to raze any apart from that scaffolding,” Shadab Ali said. Contrary to the residents’ claim, the MCD officials said they couldn’t carry out the drive effectively due to continuous protests from the locals and the politicians. Meanwhile, when asked to spot the illegal structures, the officials couldn’t identify them. However, they also said that they may return to resume the demolition drive as and when directed by the civic authority. Aam Aadmi Party MLA from the area Amanatullah Khan and a few leaders from Congress and CPI(M) were among the politicians who sat in front of the bulldozer Monday to resist the demolition drive. Shaheen Bagh famously became the epicentre of the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019-2020. Activists and opposition parties allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party is using the civic bodies to target the Muslim community via an anti-encroachment drive. A similar exercise was carried out in north Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, where a communal clash broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession last month. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta had written to the South MCD mayor last month, demanding the removal of encroachment by “Rohingya, Bangladeshis and anti-social elements”.
