AAP’s claim on slum demolition baseless: DDA

AAP has announced a week-long campaign, claiming that land-owning agencies have been directed to demolish slums

Reacting to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) campaign against the alleged slum demolition plans, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Monday issued an official statement saying that none of the slums have been demolished and the statements of AAP functionaries and ministers are “baseless, mischievous and motivated with an intent to mislead people.”

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HT reached out to the Delhi government but did not get any response on request for comment.

DDA has said that over the past couple of days several leaders, including ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Gopal Rai, have issued statements regarding “surveys being conducted by DDA for demolishing slums”. The statement added, “At the outset, it is brought on record that none of the slums have been demolished and they cannot be demolished because of the fact that the central government has recently extended the validity of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011 upto December 31, 2026 for a period of three years.” The extension will continue to protect certain unauthorised developments, including JJ Clusters, from punitive action, it added.

The statement added that DDA has recently rehabilitated residents of JJ Clusters in Kalkaji. “Regarding the demolition carried out in Gokulpuri on 13 January 2024 by DDA, it is put on record that the same was carried out to remove encroachments from government land belonging to DDA.” The commercial establishments that came up included automobile showrooms that made profits in crores. No JJ cluster was demolished or targeted in this drive, it said.

BJP has so far argued that the AAP-led Delhi government has not paid any attention to any development work but is misleading people. “Nowadays, by running another false and misleading campaign, AAP has once again shown that it is rich only in words. What has the government done in the last nine years to provide houses to the poor. If they had allowed the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to be implemented in Delhi, perhaps no poor person would have been living in a slum today,” BJP minister Bansuri Swaraj said on Sunday.