Panchayat ultimatum to Delhi govt

[sejwaldeepak]

Panchayat ultimatum to Delhi govt

Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, Feb. 5. — With MCD’s bulldozers making their way into Lal Dora areas of the national capital, village leaders of Delhi today held a ‘mahapanchayat’ to protest the civic body’s action, deciding to give Delhi government 15 days’ time to stop the demolitions and threatening to launch a mass agitation if their demands were not met.
The mahapanchayat held at Rajghat, the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, saw villagers turning out in thousands and also had leaders from across the political spectrum, including Congress MP Mr Sajjan Kumar, JD-U leader Mr Sharad Yadav, RLD chief Mr Ajit Singh and Mr Mahender Singh Tikait of All India Kisan Sabha taking the stage in support of the villagers’ cause.
After a day-long meeting, the village elders from over 360 villages of Delhi passed a resolution.
“We are giving the government 15 days’ time to take steps to stop the demolitions. It is up to them how they do it, whether they bring an ordinance or go to court,” said Mr Yudhvir Singh, general secretary of Delhi Gram Vikas Panchayat, the umbrella body of the panchayats that is campaigning against the MCD action.

[sejwaldeepak]

Villagers take to streets in Delhi protesting against demolition

New Delhi: Hundreds of villagers took out a rally on Sunday in New Delhi against demolitions in classified rural land or “Lal Dora” area in the city.

Following court orders to bring down illegal commercial complexes, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday began to tear down one of the city’s top shopping complexes on the Delhi - Gurgaon Road which houses stores of some of the top Indian designers such as Rohit Bal, Rana Gill, Suneet Verma, Manav Gangwani, to name a few.

Lal Dora, literary red thread, was used in the past for demarcating the jurisdiction of a village. These shopping complexes are in the Lal Dora area of the city and presently imply the boundary of the territory of village within which norms and controls of a municipality or urban development authority are not applicable.

Ajit Singh, Chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal Party, said how could the court impose laws that were non-existent in these areas earlier.

“It is understood very well that these villagers have not been represented in the court of law. Where arises the question of bylaws? Our argument is that if these bylaws, which were not existent in their areas before, are now imposed on them as they are in all over Delhi, then that would not be right,” he said.

Former Union Minister Sharad Yadav too protested the controversial demolition drive.

“The matter is, that at this point, urban development has become exhaustive all over the county. Thousands of villagers that form this country and the land that has been usurped by the expansion of cities come under this national problem.”

Villagers say there has been a gross misinterpretation of the Court’s orders.

“We are going to take this Lal Dora issue to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court order that High Court is quoting in favour of demolitions actually says that only hazardous industries should be removed from the area and any other kind of construction is allowed,” said a villager.

MCD is demolishing around 18,000 unauthorised structures, mainly illegal commercial establishments in residential areas, on the High Court’s orders.

The MCD had issued notices about the demolitions to be carried out under police protection.

Residents also alleged that MCD officials were bribed to look the other way when illegal buildings came up.