Reconstitution of Committee for Removal of Encroachments in Vasant Vihar

Encroachments are continuing to take place in Vasant Vihar unabated. Semi-permanent structures have been constructed at several places on the pavements and inside market areas by
unauthorized vendors; parking places have been converted into taxi stands and so on. Unable to remove the encroachments and their further growth at local level, VVWA had moved the Hon’ble High Court for the revival of the three-man committee constituted in the year 2003, and which went defunct in 2006. Accepting VVWA’s plea, the court has reconstituted the committee comprising of the following three members:

1. Asst Commissioner, MCD
2. One inspector nominated by the SHO
3. President/Secretary, VVWA.
   The committee is required to meet once a month.
   The reconstituted committee has already held its first meeting, wherein the Assistant Commissioner, MCD, President VVWA and SHO’s representative were present. The committee has decided to focus its attention on the following areas of irregularity at the first and then look into other areas of encroachment for their removal:

• Removal of abandoned vehicles.
• Removal of roadside encroachments and temporary structures.
• Encroachments of pavements in markets, wherever the shopkeepers have spread their merchandise.
• Encroachments on pavements such as flower pots etc. that have been carried out by the residents.
  Few residents have made some suggestions for the consideration of the committee. Some of them are reproduced below:
  Gurdeep Singh wants the removal of all the fruit and veg vendors on Vasant Marg including the ‘Channa Bhatura’ and ‘Momo’ sellers adjacent to the BSES substation. He believes that the ‘Momo’ seller is the servant of the house opposite!
  Dr. Kirti Verma wants the encroachments on all the main roads to be removed on priority instead of opening too many controversial issues like ramps outside builder houses, pavements etc. and then the encroachment on inner roads by the residents themselves.
  Meera suggests that VVWA should constitute a separate committee of 5-7 residents who are well conversant with the issues involved and are willing to assist VVWA in identifying the problem areas and suggest ways and means for their removal. VVWA President may even consider having one of the residents, who is well known and meets all the required criteria, on the High Court constituted committee as their nominee. Hon’ble High Court be approached for this inclusion.
  VVWA has already got into action and has requested its Block representatives to identify all the encroachments and problem areas in their respective Blocks and submit the list for removal by the High Court constituted committee. Residents, who wish to render help to the Block representatives in preparing the list of unauthorized vendors, may contact their respective Block representatives.

by Maj Gen (Retd) S P Murgai