Overview
- Security forces and municipal teams began a pre-dawn demolition operation on Sunday that targeted roughly 143–150 unauthorised pucca structures in Shalimar Bagh to make way for the road-widening project.
- The action followed a January 10 joint survey by DDA, Revenue, Land and Building and PWD that identified the encroachments and a sequence of court rulings that left the administration free to proceed, including the Supreme Court order on May 29.
- Officials say the land was acquired decades ago and forms part of DDA’s 30-metre Road No. 320; the current phase confines clearance to about 10.5 metres of the blocked stretch so as to limit displacement.
- The Delhi government has offered a one-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 3 lakh to eligible families and licence-based temporary housing for up to 11 months at Savda Ghevra, while setting conditions that many residents say will exclude some households and shops.
- The operation is ongoing until the corridor is opened, leaving many long‑term residents and small businesses displaced or uncertain about eligibility for relief, and raising the prospect of local legal and political challenges over compensation and rehousing.