New Delhi,January 13: Facing contempt threat from Delhi high court, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) after several failed attempts on Wednesday finally succeeded in razing a mosque built illegally on its land in Jangpura area in 2005.
Peeved over encroachment affecting their colony’s development, Jangpura RWA in 2006 approached HC protesting the failure of municipal authorities to remove illegal structures. The petitioners had argued that they could not build a community centre and a park in their locality due to encroachment.
But, the court, on an assurance by the authorities, disposed of the petition in 2008. “The matter was then referred to Delhi government’s religious committee which gave its approval for demolishing the structure in October 2009, and the case was then forwarded to L-G, who gave his nod soon after. In 2010, we tried demolishing the mosque six times but were unable to do so due to lack of adequate police protection,” said DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar.
Frustrated with the lack of action, the RWA again moved the court in October 2010. The HC then issued a contempt notice against L-G, DDA vice-chairman and commissioner (land and management) and asked them to submit a compliance report within four weeks. “Since the next date of hearing is January 14, we moved ahead with the demolition plan,” said Dhar.
Though the DDA carried out demolition early in the morning to avoid any flare-up, the action triggered violence in the area. However, residents of the area said that the tension could have been avoided had the demolition taken place earlier. “The DDA should have removed the mosque along with the slum clusters in 2006. It came up as a residential construction and was later converted into a religious structure. Many people used to stay inside the mosque,” alleged a member of Jangpura RWA.
This is not the only piece of DDA land acquired illegally. There are at least 350 religious encroachments on DDA land at present, said officials. As per an internal DDA survey carried out in 2010, a total of 39.38 acre of land has been encroached by religious structures, mostly in east Delhi. “Action against religious structures becomes very difficult in general circumstances but we have been trying to demolish such structures on a regular basis. In this case, action had to be initiated to comply with the HC order,” said an official.
MCD has also been trying to prevent such encroachments. “The MCD commissioner has directed deputy commissioners to ensure that no new religious encroachments come up on MCD land,” said press and information director Deep Mathur.
—–The Times of India———–