Demolition stopped, situation under control: Delhi Police
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Apr, 2022 10:05 AM
New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) Delhi Police Special Commissioner of Police Dependra Pathak said that the situation at the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi, where violence broke out four days ago, is completely normal and under control in the wake of demolition drive carried out by the Municipal Corporation.
"The demolition process has now been stopped and the law and order situation is under control. We're maintaining peace and tranquillity in the area," the Special Commissioner said while speaking to the reporters.
He also said that the police in large numbers were there to only provide protection to the civic agency while they carried out the demolition process. "We have adequate deployment and we are also in touch with the citizens of the area to maintain peace," the Special CP said.
The anti-encroachment drive began in the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area at around 10.40 a.m. in the morning. The first demolition was of a tobacconist's shop and then the JCB proceeded further to demolish another juice-cum-tobbacco vendor next to it. A double storey scrap dealer's shop was also razed to the ground.
Suddenly at around 11.10 a.m., the news of the Supreme Court ordering status quo over the demolition drive broke out and the bulldozers were halted to further carry out the demolition.
But in just 20 minutes, at 11.30 the JCBs again started the drive and a 2-storey juice corner was demolished at first after a brief halt.
The owner of the shop kept screaming and weeping, asking for help from the mediapersons, however, within minutes his shop was also razed to the ground. "My shop has been here since 1977. Why are they not checking my papers? Why is no official coming to talk to me. My shop was alloted by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)," asked Ganesh Kumar Gupta, owner of the Juice corner.
The people residing in the vicinity of the demolition drive could be seen, watching the whole process from the rooftops and the windows of their houses. While speaking to IANS, several among them expressed their resentment over the government's strict action which came just four days after the severe communal clashes.
A one-page hand-written suicide note was recovered from the spot where the officer was found unconscious and it is being sent to the hand-writing experts for examination.
About 40 per cent of milk and milk product samples, which were seized during raids conducted by food safety officials in the last one month, were found to be of substandard quality, a senior official said on Thursday.
Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday released CCTV footage that he said showed police action against peaceful protesters and subsequent firing leading to the death of two youths in Kotkapura in October 2015 following sacrilege incidents.
The Punjab government on Thursday withdrew in the "larger public interest" its notification for entrusting the CBI with the probe into the sacrilege cases reported in the state in 2015 and opted for a SIT probe instead.
