50,000 people of 16 villages facing bulldozer threats: Cong

New Delhi: The Delhi Congress on Monday claimed that over 50,000 people of 16 villages along the ridge area in the city are facing bulldozer threats , asserting that the party will launch an agitation if their houses are demolished by civic authorities.

Addressing a press conference here, Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar said that representatives of the 16 villages met him and complained about the "threat of bulldozers" to "evict" them from their homes.

"The latest target of the BJP's bulldozers are over 50,000 people living in 16 villages from Rajokri to Badarpur on the ridge area since 1950, who have played a major role in the development of Delhi," he said. The Congress leader further alleged that "in 2006, two senior BJP leaders had given the Gram Sabha lands of the 16 villages to the forest department of Delhi government for their own political gains, and the villagers of Delhi are paying a heavy price for it".

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should convene a special session of the Assembly to pass a law to return the lands given to the forest department in the ridge area back to the Gram Sabha, Kumar demanded.

Lashing out at the BJP and the ruling AAP, the Delhi Congress chief said that in the past seven years, "the BJP and the AAP government joined hands to destroy the houses of thousands of people for their vested interests".