DDA carries out anti-encroachment drive near Batla House

new delhi: The DDA on Friday said that it had cleared illegal encroachments on around 2.5 acres of land from the Yamuna floodplains at Dhobi Ghat near Batla House, as residents of the jhuggis claimed that their homes had been destroyed by the authorities without giving prior notice.

"This land is owned by the DDA and was well demarcated by installing bollards and even boundary walls", the DDA said. "The encroachers made their jhuggis on government land in the last few months in spite of instructions displayed at the site that the land belongs to DDA. These encroachers were informed continuously to clear the site but nothing happened", the authority said.

76-year-old visually-impaired Mohammad Iliyas, a resident of the area, said that majority of the slums in their areas were bulldozed by the authorities, including his. It has left the future of his 8-member family uncertain.

Some residents did resist the attempts to destroy their houses but cops lathi-charged them and took them to the Jamia Nagar Police Station, Anwari, a widow claimed. With the help of a Delhi Police team headed by Joint Commissioner Devesh Srivastava, the encroachment was removed, DDA said, adding that the anti-encroachment drive was done as per NGT guidelines.

50-year-old Ikrar Hussain was one of those who sustained injuries during the demolition drive. "I tried to save some of the important household items but the policemen thrashed me which caused one of the blood vessels in my ankle to burst," he said, "I have all the identity cards to prove that I have been living here for two decades," Sunita Mandal, another resident, said.