The North Delhi Municipal Corporation Thursday “stopped construction” of a mohalla clinic in Karol Bagh, claiming that it would have come in the way of decongesting the area and Right of Way (ROW). Advertising The action drew outrage from the Delhi government, which called it “criminal and illegal” and approached police. The civic body’s action, a month before Delhi goes to polls, sparked a political row, with AAP and the BJP trading barbs. While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that people “should remember this” when they vote, the BJP said construction work was being carried out without approvals from the North MCD and Delhi Traffic Police. Shaleen Mitra, OSD to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, countered the civic body and claimed that while construction was stopped three days ago, the authorities went ahead with a demolition drive on Thursday without issuing any notice. Advertising Explained Conflict for control The conflict between the government and MCDs arises from a 2012 decision that roads more than 60 m wide will be maintained by PWD. Ownership of the roads and the path abutting it, however, would remain with the corporation. The Delhi government, on its part, has been struggling to find land to build mohalla clinics for the past 3 years, often alleging that the Centre-controlled DDA and MCDs are stopping land allotment. “The entire structure had come up, barring the doors and vinyl sheets. Air conditioners would have been installed. The plan was to launch the clinic after the Model Code of Conduct is lifted. Three days ago when they stopped work, we had written to the MCD commissioner. But they demolished the structure without any intimation,” Mitra claimed. Mohalla clinics are primary healthcare centres, a flagship project of the AAP government. There are around 198 mohalla clinics in the city currently. DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said police have received a complaint from the Public Works Department in this regard but no FIR has been registered yet. “Further investigation is on,” he said. North MCD commissioner Varsha Joshi claimed no demolition was carried out: “Our junior engineer went to the site and asked the PWD contractor to stop work as they cannot construct without MCD permission.” Nagendar Sharma, media advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, claimed that the road on which the clinic was being constructed came under the PWD’s jurisdiction. “The structure was coming up on a PWD road. The North MCD had no jurisdiction. No notice was given and a primary health public facility was destroyed for no reason,” he said. Joshi, however, said: “The road in question is MCD property, handed over to PWD only for maintenance. These are narrow roads and the civic body is trying hard to decongest the Karol Bagh area. In such a situation, we could not have allowed this (clinic) to come up. It is being falsely portrayed that it was a well-built clinic that we destroyed.” The MCD commissioner added that going by the prevailing norms, no such structure can come up without an NOC (no-objection certificate) of the land-owning agency, and “no one asked for an NOC” in this case. North DMC Mayor Adesh Gupta also produced a 2017 letter written by special secretary PWD to the principal secretary, health, where it was stated that MCDs and the Traffic Police have to be approached on the matter of setting up mohalla clinics on Right of Way. The letter states that as far as roads are concerned, setting up mohalla clinics on ROW was not advisable as they may adversely affect traffic movement. Government officials, meanwhile, claimed the corporation was also threatening to demolish another under-construction clinic on Pyare Lal Road in Karol Bagh. “This again is on a PWD road. Have you ever heard that a civic body, without any basis, is threatening to destroy a primary health centre?” Sharma tweeted.

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