Another day, another lane: Bulldozer continues to raze hopes in Delhi

North and South Delhi Municipal Corporation authorities on Friday initiated anti-encroachment drives in various parts of the city, including at a civic stadium at Mangolpuri which had been illegally occupied by a few people who had also "brought in cattle inside its premises," a senior official said.

The property comes under the education department of the NDMC, another official said.

"Action was under way in Mangolpuri at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium, where the inner area was encroached upon by few people and cattle had been brought in inside its premises," the senior official said.

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An anti-encroachment drive was also under way at Samaypur Badli, and Prem Nagar in Karol Bagh zone, where action was taken earlier as well, officials said.

NDMC authorities on Thursday had written to the local police in Bawana area to provide sufficient number of personnel for an action to remove "unauthorised meat shops" and illegal structures on Friday, officials had said.

They had also asked for presence of police personnel for carrying out anti-encroachment drive in a stretch from Samaypur Badli to Rohini metro station, sector 18, on Friday.

A similar drive was undertaken by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation in west Delhi’s Khyala area.

Teams of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) enforcement cell reached Khyala with bulldozers in the presence of police and started removing temporary structures, kiosks and shanties.

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“The drive has begun in Khyala near Vishnu Garden metro station. We have adequate police force to execute the exercise. So far, there is no protest,” an SDMC official said.

The official said that a drive is also scheduled to be undertaken in Shubhash Nagar in West Delhi and Goyala Dairy area in Najafgarh zone.

Civic authorities on Thursday had carried out anti-encroachment drives in various parts of Delhi that sparked violent protests and pelting of stones in the Madanpur Khadar area where the locals claimed that legal structures were bulldozed.

While the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) carried out the drive in Madanpur Khadar and Dhirsen Marg, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) took action in areas under its Rohini and Karol Bagh zones.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was a part of a protest in southeast Delhi's Madanpur Khadar, has been detained along with others for obstructing the drive, police officials said.