Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Wednesday asked three municipal corporations run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to submit a detailed report on the use of bulldozers in the present fiscal year so far.
The direction came two days after Delhi State Chief Arvind Kejriwal slammed the BJP over the anti-encroachment drive being conducted in various parts of the city.
The three civic bodies in Delhi — South Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation — will have to submit reports on the use of bulldozers in the period starting 1 April.
Lashing out at the BJP, Kejriwal has described the anti-encroachment drive as the “biggest destruction” in the history of independent India.
He pointed out that although the AAP government doesn’t support encroachment and wants Delhi to look beautiful, the way the anti-encroachment drive has been carried out is not right and the demolition of "homes and shops of 6.3 million people will not be tolerated".
During an online briefing with party lawmakers, the Delhi State Chief asked them to oppose the demolition being carried out by the civic bodies.
Criticising the BJP, Kejriwal said that although the party had campaigned on the slogan of ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan’ (Providing a House Wherever a Shanty Exists) before Delhi's state elections, they are being demolished.
The attack from Kejriwal came after the BJP-controlled MCD began demolition of the illegal construction in the Shaheen Bagh area of South Delhi on 9 May.
The action was taken after the Delhi High Court on 5 May directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and Delhi Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (DIIDCL) to act against the illegal construction in the area.
Before this, a demolition drive was carried out in the Jahangirpuri area of the city, where violence erupted on the occasion of Hanuman Janmotsav (the anniversary of Lord Hanuman's birth) in April.
However, the Supreme Court of India ordered the civic bodies to stop the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri area on the same day.