Court petitioned for razing slum near Games stadium
By IANSFriday, August 20, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Friday sought the Delhi High Court’s permission for razing a slum cluster near the Thyagaraj Stadium in view of the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice S. Muralidhar directed the MCD to find an alternate site by Saturday for the 16 families residing there before razing the slum.
Appearing for MCD, Standing Counsel Najmi Waziri said about 16 families have occupied a small but crucial triangular space near the stadium blocking the road connecting to the stadium.
The lawyer said that during the Games there would be movement of thousands of people on foot and in vehicles, which would endanger the lives of these people.
“Their squatting is by way of a few temporary jhuggies made of plastic/tarpaulin sheets. The jhuggies block the clear line of sight of oncoming traffic, in addition to posing a constant danger to their own lives,” submitted the counsel.
Many development projects were being undertaken to facilitate the holding of the Commonwealth Games in October and a Road Under Bridge (RUB) was being constructed connecting Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to Thyagraj Stadium under a joint venture of MCD and Indian Railways.
