Days after the Delhi High Court direction, authorities on Sunday carried out an anti-encroachment drive at the Archaeological Survey of India's Tughlaqabad Fort.
The action was taken days after the Delhi High Court directed the ASI to remove encroachments in the historic fort.
The drive was carried out under the supervision of a team of officials from the South East Delhi district administration, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Police and the ASI, sources said.
"About 40-45 per cent of encroachment was removed by authorities in accordance with the April 24 order of the Delhi High Court. This encroachment had been a lingering issue and more action will be taken later," a source told PTI.
The encroachment included various structures such as dwellings, shanties and shops which had sprung in the period of the last several years, he said.
About "250 bigha of land was reclaimed at the Fort site in 2000," the source said.
A senior police officer said, "Under the supervision of district authorities, the demolition drive was conducted on the land of ASI, as per the court order. Police force was deployed for the protection of officials to ensure that there was no obstruction to officials in charge of carrying out their work." The Delhi High Court on April 24 had directed the ASI to remove encroachments in the historic Tughlaqabad Fort within four weeks, saying it cannot be a "silent spectator" on the issue.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, while hearing pleas against rampant encroachment in Tughlaqabad Fort, warned it will order the personal appearance of top officials, including the ASI director, MCD commissioners, the sub-divisional magistrate and senior police officers in the event of non-compliance with its directives.
It noted that in 2016 the Supreme Court had passed an order for the removal of encroachments in the area and the ASI has already pasted 1,248 notices on various structures within the fort.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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