CM Kejriwal targets BJP over anti-encroachment drive

PTI, May 16, 2022, 12:51 PM IST

New Delhi: Slamming the anti-encroachment drive being carried out in various parts of the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said if bulldozers raze shops and houses of 63 lakh people in Delhi, which are considered illegal, it will be the ”biggest destruction” in independent India.

At a meeting with Aam Aadmi Party MLAs on the matter, Kejriwal told them that they should be ready to go to jail for opposing the anti-encroachment drive being carried out by the BJP-led municipal corporations in various parts of Delhi. ”They are reaching colonies with bulldozers and razing any shop and house. Even if people show them papers to prove that the structure is not illegal, they do not check them,” he said.

”Delhi has not been made in a planned way. More than 80 percent of Delhi can be called illegal and encroached. Does that mean you will destroy 80 percent of Delhi?” he said in an online briefing.

The party is against the way the anti-encroachment drive is being carried out, he said, adding nearly 50 lakh people stay in unauthorized colonies, 10 lakh in ‘jhuggis’ and there are lakhs of people who have modified balconies or done something that does not conform to original maps.

”That means homes and shops of 63 lakh people will be bulldozed. This will be the biggest destruction happening in independent India,” he said.

While noting that the Aam Aadmi Party is against encroachment and wants Delhi to look beautiful, he said razing homes and shops of 63 lakh people will not be tolerated. ”In the last 15 years, the BJP was in power in MCD and took the money. Their tenure will be ending on May 18. Do you have the constitutional power to take such big decisions? Let elections happen and let that party take the decision. Everyone knows that the AAP will come to power in MCD,” he said.

He assured people that the AAP will solve the problem of encroachment and that people residing in unauthorized colonies will get ownership rights.