india

Updated: Apr 12, 2019 23:11 IST

The Delhi government on Friday alleged that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation “illegally” demolished the second under-construction mohalla clinic in three days “without prior notice” in west Delhi’s Karol Bagh.

The latest clinic, which the Delhi government alleged was demolished late on Thursday night, was being built on Pyarelal Road in Karol Bagh. Earlier on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had accused the north civic body of “illegally” demolishing a mohalla clinic on Har Dayal Singh Road in the same locality.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Aadesh Gupta termed the government’s allegations as “false” and “baseless”. Gupta said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was misleading the people “with a new lie” every day.

AAP MLA from Karol Bagh, Vishesh Ravi, said on Friday that the north civic body, which is helmed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demolished an under-construction mohalla clinic on Pyarelal Road in Karol Bagh area on Thursday night. “This is the second incident when the North MCD has razed a mohalla clinic in Karol Bagh area. The first one was pulled down around two days ago on Har Dayal Singh Road without any prior notice. This action is politically motivated,” Ravi said.

He added that if the civic body was of the view that the ongoing construction work was not as per norms then they should have given a prior notice ordering construction activities to a halt. He said it was, however, “illegal” to go “selectively” after mohalla clinics in the name of encroachments.

Later in the day, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said on Twitter, “BJP’s MCD demolished another under-construction mohalla clinic at midnight. The Delhi government kept raising its voice against North MCD’s malicious intent since yesterday.”

A number of AAP supporters led by Ravi also staged a protest at the Karol Bagh zone deputy commissioner office on Friday. They submitted a memorandum to stop “deliberately targeting” AAP government’s popular health-care scheme.

A part of the flagship project of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, there are about 200 mohalla clinics across the city. Currently, three mohalla clinics are functional in Karol Bagh area and 10 more are being constructed at different places in the vicinity.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Gupta said that it was “false propaganda”, which was being run on social media that the north civic body demolished mohalla clinics. “The PWD has clear directions that wherever there is a road with a width of 60 feet or more permission to install a mohalla clinic has to be sort from the traffic police and municipal corporations. Why have they not obtained the no-objection certificates for the clinics?” Gupta said.

Gupta alleged that the AAP government wanted to paralyse the Delhi civic bodies by withholding the funds meant for them.