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22,500 structures in east Delhi illegal
More than 22,500 new unauthorised buildings materialised across Delhi this year, say police sources.
More than 22,500 new unauthorised buildings materialised across Delhi this year, say police sources.
Every one of these, said a senior police officer, has the potential to play the protagonist in a Lalita Park-esque tragedy, which claimed 67 lives and injured more than 80 people last November.
The sheer number of these unauthorised buildings is now on the verge of becoming the highest such figure in half a decade. Last year, the Delhi police had received complaints of about 23,000 illegal constructions in the city.
According to the force’s estimates, the number of illegal constructions in Delhi at present is 22,500. However, the police have only been able to compile a definite record of such constructions in east Delhi till date.
The areas where such structures are booming include Ghazipur, Madhu Vihar, Kalyanpuri and Mandawali in east Delhi.
"The MCD and DDA were intimated about 1,729 such constructions by 2010 end in east Delhi alone. This year, about 1,502 new illegal structures, which came up in just east Delhi till September 15, have been reported," said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of police (law and order).
The figure is shy of just around 200 cases with nearly three months to go till the end of this year. The current trend of illegal construction is expected to continue unabated. This, the police believe, will lead to the compiling of their longest list of such structures since 2007, for east Delhi alone.
The highest number of unauthorised constructions, that is 447, has been reported from Shakarpur while 145 were reported from Gandhi Nagar.
“While Ghazipur did not report any illegal construction in four years, this year, 20 of them have come up. In Jagatpuri, their number jumped from just five in 2009 to 127. Most of such complaints have been sent to the MCD,” the police officer said.
A senior MCD official said the registration of criminal cases had been suggested in a majority of the cases brought to its notice by the police.
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