Anti-encroachment drive at pavement temple in east Delhi runs into protests

Scores of residents in east Delhi’s Mandawali protested and got into confrontations with officials on Thursday after the Public Works Department (PWD) came to the spot with a bulldozer to raze a railing around a Shani temple that encroached upon a pavement, leading to tense moments before paramilitary reinfocements were called.

The religious structure at the centre of the issue is located on Narwana Road in East School Block of Mandawali. A part of the steel rail fencing was demolished at around 9.30am but civic agencies held off on proceeding with the drive as protesters began arriving, with many raising slogans and chanting “Jai Shri Ram”. Several women were seen getting into scuffles with paramilitary personnel deployed to restrain the protesters.

“The encroachment was on the footpath and only six to seven metres of the railing was demolished,” said a senior PWD official, requesting anonymity. “The demolition was carried out after we received information about plans for an illegal expansion of the structure,” said a second PWD official.

While some women were seen standing at the protest site with lathis, police said that there was no violence, and no injuries were reported. “We have not registered a case nor have we detained anyone. The situation is peaceful although we have kept some forces deployed at the spot,” said Amrutha Guguloth, deputy commissioner of police (east).