212 DDA demolition drives stalled in five years over police, legal hurdles: Govt

Around 212 anti-encroachment demolition programmes planned by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) were cancelled in the last five years due to issues including inadequate police deployment, law-and-order concerns, court orders and discrepancies in land demarcation, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Replying to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said the DDA faces several operational, legal and administrative challenges while carrying out demolition drives against encroachments in the national capital.

The minister said insufficient police force and non-implementation of law and order were among the major operational challenges faced by the authority. Legal hurdles included status quo orders issued by courts with undefined end dates and restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

On administrative challenges, the government said differences in land demarcation carried out by DDA officials and the Revenue Department, along with delays in support from other agencies during joint demolition programmes, affected the drives.

“Due to having one or more of the reasons mentioned above, around 212 demolition programmes were cancelled in the last five years,” the minister said.

To address coordination issues between the DDA, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Revenue Department over land records and regularisation claims, the government said joint inspections were conducted with the Special Task Force (STF).

The DDA has also nominated nodal officers from different departments to resolve issues in a timely manner and initiated advance correspondence with concerned agencies to address possible hurdles before demolition action, the reply added.