Jahangirpuri: 5-member Samajwadi Party delegation reaches demolition site for probe

Amid heightened debate on the anti-encroachment drive, a delegation of the Samajwadi Party reached Jahangirpuri on Friday. The five-member delegation is headed by MPs Shafiqur Rehman Barg and ST Hasan. Also comprising Ravi Prakash Varma, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad and Javed Ali Khan, the delegation is to get a first-hand account of the site where Delhi Nagar Nigam bulldozers had razed structures. The five members will submit the report on the same to the Delhi, Lucknow quarters of the party on April 23. 

Before SP, a five-member delegation of the Trinamool Congress and a 16-member delegation of the Congress have all visited Jahangirpuri. Members of the CPI, as well as AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, have also paid a visit to the demolition site and also spoken to the victims 

'Opposition giving it a communal colour'

Meanwhile, attacked from all corners for the demolition drive at Delhi's Jahangirpuri, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a statement wherein the saffron party's Delhi President Adesh Gupta pointed out how the opposition was giving communal colour to an attempt by the government to remove the rioters and illegal encroachers from the area.

Thanking Delhi Police for bulldozing illegal encroachment by Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, Gupta highlighted how it was the 7th instance in the year when demolition was taking place. "The department always acts on the illegal encroachments. This is their routine work," the BJP state chief said, adding, "The department does not ever target a particular caste or religion." 

SC sends notice to Centre 

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Wednesday had scheduled an "encroachment removal action programme", wherein illegal construction in the Jahangirpuri area was to be removed on Wednesday and Thursday. However, minutes after it commenced, the Supreme Court put a stay on the drive, acting on the plea of Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, who had argued that it was illegal. The Court scheduled the hearing on the matter on Thursday, by a two-judge bench. The bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavaiordered a 2-week long stay against the demolition drive while issuing notices to the Centre and others.