Sadaf Shifa Khatun, 48, has become homeless and is forced to live with her relatives in Munirka in south Delhi as her two-storey house was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in an anti-encroachment drive in Mehrauli.
The demolition drive, which began on February 10 to clear the government land falling under Mehrauli Archaeological Park of encroachment, had stopped on February 14 but Khatun still remembers how she turned homeless overnight.
Delhi's Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot has ordered a fresh demarcation order and in that order, the minister claimed that the affected people of the area had not been informed about the December 2021 demarcation exercise.
Khatun said that, she, along with her husband and two children, had been living near the Mehrauli bus terminal for the last 30 years.
“My children were born here. In these many years, no one from the DDA or the government ever told us that our house was constructed illegally. A few weeks before the drive, they pasted a notice saying our home was an encroachment on the Mehrauli Archaeological Park land and it would be removed. I have all the papers, and I kept showing them those papers but they broke my dream home on February 14. I have become homeless in just one night,” Khatun told Moneycontrol as her eyes brimmed with tears.
“Were these authorities sleeping when construction on the land and registries of homes were happening?” she said.
Khatun is not alone. There are hundreds of people, who lost either their homes or shops in the demolition drive in the Ladha Sarai Village area near Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
The DDA, in coordination with Delhi Police, had, on February 10, 2023, started a drive to clear unauthorised encroachments on government land at Ladha Sarai village falling under the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in south Delhi.
The archaeological park houses protected Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) monuments and others, which, the authorities say, have been encroached upon by the residents of the area.
The demolition drive occurred nearly a month before a proposed G20 meeting at the archaeological park. During the drive, around 50 temporary and permanent structures were demolished by DDA officials.
The anti-encroachment drive triggered protests from locals and a political slugfest in the national capital as the demolished structures included the homes of many residents who claim to have been living on the land in question for over 50 years.
The demolition order, dated December 12, 2022, was pasted on the walls of the structures, along with the markings, which said that the land on which the demolition is to be carried out is part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
DDA officials said that the drive was conducted on the basis of the demarcation of the area by the Delhi government’s revenue department in December 2021. Its objective was to secure the government land by clearing the area of encroachments.
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The demolition drive lasted for five days before it was put on hold by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, who is also DDA’s chairman, on February 14.
The drive was halted after a delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders met the LG earlier that day.
Aman Rathi, 38, walked recklessly with documents of his house near the Mehrauli Bus Terminal and approached several officials on the spot during the drive to prove the legality of his property but to no avail.
“I kept waiving the registry papers and electricity bills to show that my home was not illegal. But they did not listen and went ahead with the demolition. What will I do now as I bought this 2BKH home for Rs 30 lakh with all my savings and a bank loan. Who is responsible for this mess? The government had conducted the registry of our houses. Then, how can they be illegal?” Rathi asked.
Amit Chaudhary, another resident of the area, questioned the action by the DDA and also the government over the registration of the houses.
“Most of the houses in the area are old and many were constructed 50-60 years ago. Where were the DDA and other authorities when the construction was happening? Why did they allow the construction in the first place? If this land is part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, why did the government allow registries of houses? It is not the people but the authorities who are at fault,” Chaudhary said.
The area has a sizable population of refugees whose forefathers had come to India from Pakistan during the partition and settled here.
Voicing similar concerns, another resident of Ladha Sarai village, Umar Jahan, 45, said that she has been living here for the last 25 years and the house was bought by her husband’s grandfather when he came to India from Pakistan.
“We have all the documents with us to prove the legality of the property. The authorities say that it is an encroachment on government land. This is wrong. The registrar’s office is located nearby but still, they could not check the so-called illegal construction. Then how can residents be held responsible?” Jahan said.
She said if the government wanted to demolish these houses, they should first relocate the residents to some nearby places. “We cannot be left to fend for ourselves for no fault of ours,” she said.
Skyrocketing rents
Though the DDA has stopped the demolition drive, the residents whose houses were razed are facing skyrocketing rents in nearby areas such as Mehrauli ward number 6, 7, and Kishangarh, among others.
Mohammad Shehzad, whose 40-year-old house was razed in the demolition drive, is temporarily living with his relatives as he is unable to rent a place because of high demand.
“The rent of a single room is oscillating between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 in Mehrauli and nearby areas. It was increased by house owners after the demolition drive to take advantage of the situation. The rent of a double-room set is even higher and goes up to Rs 17,000-Rs 18,000. This is unaffordable for me,” Shehzad, who sells snacks near Qutub Minar archaeological complex, told Moneycontrol.
Raees Ahmad also voiced similar concerns and said that he has sent his family to his village in western Uttar Pradesh and will bring them back only after he rents a place to live.
“Rents in this area have suddenly risen. Be it a one-room set or a single room, all are being rented out at higher prices. People used to get single rooms for Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 per month, but now, after the demolition drive, rents have skyrocketed. It is now Rs 6,000-Rs 10,000 per month, which is quite high,” Ahmad, who works at a shop in Chhatarpur, lamented.
DDA’s response
DDA officials said it was a pending court-mandated exercise. All stakeholders, including the Delhi government, have been on board in the run-up to this long-pending, court-mandated exercise.
“A demarcation exercise, to identify the extent of unauthorised and illegal construction, for the purpose of removing them, had been carried out as per the direction of the Hon’ble High Court by the revenue department in the presence of DDA and Waqf Board representatives in December 2021. This park, adjacent to the iconic Qutub Minar, is home to about 55 monuments under the protection of ASI, State Archaeological Department of GNCTD and the DDA,” the Authority said in a statement after the demolition drive on February 11.
A senior DDA official, who wished not to be named, said that residents living on the land in question were given prior notice but nothing happened.
He said a demolition order dated December 12, 2022, was pasted on the walls of encroachments, along with the markings, to the encroachers to remove all unauthorised construction within 10 days.
He said the land on which the demolition drive was carried out is the government land of Ladha Sarai village and is part of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
Officials said that the Delhi High Court has, on many occasions, directed the government authorities to secure, protect and preserve the area falling under the park by removing illegal encroachment.
“On the court’s direction, the DDA is taking the action to remove the unauthorised construction and encroachment from the government land and also to secure the Mehrauli Archaeological Park from encroachment. The drive has now been put on hold after directions from the L-G’s office,” the official said.
What archaeological experts say
An official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who wished to remain anonymous, said that according to archaeological norms, anything falling within 100 metres of any protected ASI monument should be removed.
These rules are meant to maintain the safety and sanctity of historical monuments.
According to the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, every area, beginning at the limit of the protected monument and extending to 100 metres in all directions, shall be a prohibited area.
The AMASR Act also specifies that the area beginning at the limit of the prohibited area and extending to a distance of 200 metres in all directions shall be a regulated area in respect of every ancient monument and archaeological site and remains.
BR Mani, former joint DG of ASI, said that any type of construction or other activity is strictly restricted in the prohibited area of any monument while one has to seek permission to carry out any sort of construction or maintenance work in the regulated area around historical sites, monuments, or remains.
“As per norms, any construction within these prescribed areas will be treated as illegal. It is necessary to remove encroachments, be it temporary or permanent, from near the archaeological sites and monuments to protect them and maintain their sanctity,” Mani told Moneycontrol.
He said that construction activities around any monument or archaeological site pose a danger to the site and there are also chances that historical evidence present in the vicinity or the premise of the monument may get damaged.
Such a situation will pose a danger to historical sites and their national importance, he stressed.
He said if it was a protected area, construction should not have happened in the first place and registries should not have been done.
“Removal of encroachment around archaeological sites is necessary. People who have built houses there legally should be rehabilitated and then the encroachment should be removed from the area,” Mani said.
Fresh demarcation order
Delhi government’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot, on February 11, ordered a fresh demarcation exercise in Mehrauli to ascertain the part of land under the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
In the order, the minister claimed that the affected people of the area had not been informed about the December 2021 demarcation exercise, which, he said, was done at the request of DDA.
The minister directed the district magistrate (south) to carry out a fresh demarcation exercise on the Mehrauli Archaeological Park situated in Ladha Sarai village.
In another order on February 14, the minister directed the DM to inform the DDA about the government order that a fresh demarcation exercise shall again be carried out.
Gahlot had also directed the district administration to provide affected families with tents, food, blankets, and other essential supplies.
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