MCD clams up on 'big fish' list

Vaishali Saraswat / TNN / Jan 25, 2006, 02:09 IST

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The MCD was on Tuesday hiding behind a veil of secrecy on demolishing the illegal constructions of the 'big fish'.

NEW DELHI: Hammered by Delhi High Court and chased by the media, the MCD was on Tuesday hiding behind a veil of secrecy on demolishing the illegal constructions of the "big fish".
Making a neat U-turn, the MCD told reporters that they won't be announcing when they issue show-cause notices to the politicians. This, they claimed, they had decided to do after seeking legal opinion since the case was subjudice.
The civic body said it had a list of 30-odd names that had appeared in media reports which they were studying. Director (press & information) Deep Mathur said the list was being "studied over and developed as some last-minute additions or deletions can be made."
He added: "We will submit an ATR to the court on January 31." While the court had laid special emphasis on maintaining transparency, MCD was in no mood to divulge the names and numbers of politicians involved.

Neither was it willing to say when the notices would be sent out. Over the past few days, the MCD was on with its "spadework" which involves zonal officers making queries about the deviations, site surveys to assess the violations committed by the bigwigs and the process is now in the "final stages."...
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What shape the Action Taken Report (ATR) to be submitted to the high court on January 31 will take is anybody's guess. The civic body is dragging its feet on other steps too.

The much-awaited list of 18,299 properties is still to be put up on their website. "The list is not static and as an when unauthorised constructions come to our notice, they'll be added to the list.
We will make it available to the public within this week," said Mathur. Mathur said MCD won't be taking action on its own but intimate the authorities concerned like the DJB, BSES and NDPL.
Strangely enough, after the latest court order, even the ongoing demolition drive seems to be slowing down. While Commissioner A K Nigam had said the drive would henceforth become more focussed, action was taken against just 12 properties (five residential and seven commercial) in 12 MCD zones on Tuesday.
The MCD attributed this to the lack of police force due to the Republic Day celebrations. MCD was also not willing to say when it would begin demolitions in the Lal Dora areas.
"We received the order only yesterday and are now in the process of examining it," said Mathur. On being asked about its plan of action for Lal Dora areas, he added that "in the spirit of the court order, malls and big shopping complexes will be targeted first and we will start appropriate action soon."

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