Civic officials begin demolition drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri

Officials of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation have begun a demolition drive in the national capital's Jahangirpuri area.

Heavy police and paramilitary forces were deployed in violence-hit Jahangirpuri ahead of Wednesday’s anti-encroachment drive in the area, even as the local mayor called it a 'routine exercise'.

Also watch: SC stops demolition drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri

The drive was undertaken a day after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the party-ruled NDMC to identify illegal constructions of “rioters” in Jahangirpuri and demolish them using bulldozers.

Ahead of the drive, people in Jahangirpuri C Block voluntarily removed their belongings from roadsides, they said.

The NDMC had on Tuesday requested the Delhi Police to provide at least 400 security personnel to maintain law and order during the two-day drive.

The area witnessed violent clashes, including stone pelting, arson and firing, between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday. Eight police personnel and a local resident had sustained injuries