New Delhi: ‘Centre trying to bulldoze Pak Hindu refugees’ houses’

New Delhi : Delhi Cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday alleged that the agencies under the Centre are trying to bulldoze the houses of Pakistani Hindu refugees’ living in north Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tila area.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has issued notices to Hindu refugees from Pakistan, who live near Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tila on the Yamuna floodplain, to vacate the place, locals claimed on Wednesday.

A DDA official confirmed that it was going to hold a demolition drive against the encroachment on Thursday and Friday following the National Green Tribunal’s order. The drive, however, was postponed due to unavailability of police force, sources said.

“The DDA has issued notices to Pakistani Hindu refugees residing in Majnu Ka Tila for the last 13 years that they have to pack their belongings and leave the place. Their houses will be bulldozed. The Centre’s agencies, be it the Land and Development Office or DDA are carrying out these drives,” Bharadwaj alleged in a press conference.

In November 2019, the NGT, while hearing a matter regarding the encroachment of the Yamuna floodplain by slum dwellers near Majnu Ka Tila Gurdwara, directed the DDA and the Delhi government to clear the illegal occupation.

The NGT through an order on January 29 this year imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the DDA and directed it to submit an action taken report in the matter of encroachment removal within four weeks.