Congress wants demolitions to stop

New Delhi: The Congress party wants the federal government headed by it to act on the ongoing demolition of illegal structures in Delhi.

In order to take away sheen from the opposition campaign against large-scale demolitions, Congress lawmakers have demanded the government to bring in a Bill in Parliament to stop the exercise when Parliament resumes its budget session next month.

"We assure Delhiites that they would definitely get some respite and we will surely get it for them," federal minister Kapil Sibal, who represents the Chandni Chowk seat in the Lok Sabha said here yesterday.

Realising that their inaction on the issue and taking shelter under helplessness due to court order is not doing them any good, the party has suddenly become active. While Congress parliamentarians representing Delhi in the Lok Sabha led a delegation to party chief Sonia Gandhi yesterday, its provincial lawmakers also hit the streets demanding the release of sealed commercial properties functioning from residential areas.

Sibal led a four-member delegation to Sonia and demanded legislation to stop the demolition exercise being carried out in the metropolis under a Supreme Court order. Former federal minister Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and Krishna Tirath were other members of the delegation.

Congress lawmakers represent six out of seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. While East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, son of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, was out of town, New Delhi MP Ajay Maken was not part of the delegation since he is the junior federal Urban Development Minister that will have to make a move if demolitions are to be stopped in the city.

Delhiites are not ready to accept the Congress party cannot do anything since it is in power at the centre and in the city-state and runs the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that is carrying out the demolition.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, who left the BJP on Thursday, are leading the movement to stop the demolitions.

Congress circles admit that any further inaction would mean a certain defeat when civic elections are held in the city early next year. Sibal was clear in his mind that there was no option except bringing a Bill in Parliament or issuing an ordinance, saying the large-scale destruction of Delhi cannot be allowed to continue. There are suggestions that the government is considering changing Delhi's masterplan to allow mixed land use.