Portion of mosque in Delhi’s Bengali Market razed

NEW DELHI:  A portion of a mosque in the Bengali market was demolished in a joint encroachment action by Land and Development Office (L&DO), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Tuesday morning.

According to officials, the demolition took place around 6:30 am wherein one of the boundary walls was removed. They said that the “illegal structure’ was raised a few months back on the “encroached” portion.  However, the mosque officials have alleged that no prior notice was sent to them before taking up the exercise.

Suvasish Das, chief of L&DO, said that the demolition was carried out to implement a judicial order. “We only followed the judicial process. I have nothing more to comment on the matter,” he said. The mosque is said to be around 250 years old. The portion which was demolished was made of concrete few months ago. Two rooms were also constructed during the renovation.

While there was no official statement from the civic agency, Parag Kumar Singh, Director (Press & information), NDMC, said the civic council’s officers were present on the spot to support the demolition which was primarily carried out by the L&DO.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police, which was also present to manage the law and order situation, said that noted lawyer Mehmood Paracha tried to block the demolition. “A joint encroachment removal drive was being conducted at Plot no. 205, Bengali Market by L&DO, CPWD and NDMC. In this regard, advocate Mehmood Paracha was hindering the ongoing work. He was shown the order by the civil staff to no avail. Thereafter, he was removed from the spot and allowed to leave,” DCP (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal said in a statement.