Before the demolition drive in south Delhi’s Mehrauli was halted by the Delhi High Court, anxious residents would wake up each day and ask themselves: “Who’s next?” “Who has got a stay?”
The stay only came on Tuesday, with a single judge bench ordering a status quo, and the Delhi Development Authority stopping the operation on the orders of VK Saxena, the Lieutenant Governor and DDA chairman. But not before the DDA had razed down 25 “illegal” houses over five days in a bid to reclaim land in Mehrauli Archaeological Park – an “encroachment” stretching over 2 km and involving 4,000 families.
