Townhall Times At 2 a.m. last night, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) carried out a bulldozer operation at Turkman Gate, clearing 38,940 square feet of long-standing encroachment near the Ramlila Maidan. The demolished structures included a banquet hall, a diagnostic centre, parking facilities, and other commercial establishments allegedly built on government land adjoining the Faiz-e-Ilahi mosque and a graveyard. When local residents protested, police fired tear gas shells and detained several people. Authorities have also stated that others involved in the disturbance will be identified through CCTV footage.
The demolition was carried out following a strict order of the Delhi High Court, passed on a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Save India Foundation. The court had directed the MCD to remove the encroachments within three months, which the civic body has now implemented. While the mosque committee and the Delhi Waqf Board claim ownership of the land, the MCD and PWD maintain that no documentary proof was submitted and that the area was being used for illegal commercial purposes on public land.
Justice Amit Bansal issued notices to the Ministry of Urban Development, the MCD, and the Delhi Waqf Board seeking their responses, but did not grant any interim stay—meaning the demolition could proceed, and it did.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 2026. The MCD has offered technical justifications for conducting the operation in the dead of night, but the real reason appears to be different. Since the matter was still pending in the Delhi High Court and the mosque committee could have approached the Supreme Court, there was a possibility that a stay might be granted. Had that happened, the demolition would not have been possible. To pre-empt any such legal relief, the operation was carried out overnight.
The larger question remains: Was this the final case of illegal construction and encroachment—regardless of caste or community? The honest answer is no.
This is because corrupt MCD officials routinely turn a blind eye to illegal construction and encroachments after accepting hefty bribes. Even when civil society organizations or the media attempt to alert the administration by exposing such violations, officials often go out of their way to protect the offenders. Townhall Times itself has filed complaints against officials in the MCD’s Central Zone, reaching as high as the Deputy Commissioner and the Lieutenant Governor’s office—yet there has been no action.
In the same Central Zone, illegal construction continues unabated in areas such as Ashram, Bhagwan Nagar, Bhogal, Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, Nizamuddin, Kilokri, and New Friends Colony. In Barapulla, Ashram, and Nehru Nagar, massive structures have been erected on government land. It is not that the authorities are unaware of these violations—they know everything. They have also been paid to remain silent.
Reports about these illegal constructions regularly appear in newspapers. Yet the system continues to function as it always has: money changes hands, violations are ignored, and selective demolitions are carried out only when courts intervene or political pressure mounts.
Until corrupt officials are held accountable, such midnight demolitions will remain mere spectacles—punishing structures but protecting the system that allowed them to exist in the first place.
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