3 min readNew DelhiJun 17, 2026 05:41 AM IST
First published on: Jun 17, 2026 at 05:41 AM IST
Najira, who is in her late 20s, walked barefoot on the debris on Tuesday as her husband slept near her demolished house. Najira’s house in Pradhan Gardens in Southeast Delhi was among the many unauthorised structures razed during a drive carried out by the Sub Divisional Magistrate (Badarpur) on Tuesday.
While stacking their belongings on a cycle rickshaw, Najira and her husband wondered where to go next. This is not the life they expected to live when they left Assam six months ago.
Tuesday’s drive was carried out along the Yamuna floodplain in areas falling under the O-Zone, such as Pusta Road, Pradhan Garden, Khadda Colony and Jaitpur Part-II.
It was in line with the Delhi High Court’s directions on action against unauthorised constructions. Only 91 unauthorised colonies in the O-Zone have been exempted from demolition.
A number of jhuggis were razed, residents alleged, without the authorities providing them enough time to shift their belongings.
Santosh, 38, was at a construction site in Greater Noida when he was informed that his house, built in 2019, would be taken down. Members of his family were asleep when officials, he said, knocked on their door and asked them to step outside.
“Everything that I had worked for was inside. The whole house I built from scratch is reduced to rubble now,” said Santosh.
Dilwara said she told officials that she could start shifting only once her husband returned from work. She said she couldn’t do it alone with their child in her arms. “They stuck a notice at a nearby temple and left. How were we supposed to know? Had we got a couple hours more, we would have shifted… look at the state they have left the place in now. Where are we supposed to go when it’s raining everyday?” said Dilwara.
“It took me 15 years to start life afresh and not be worried about the future. It took less than five minutes for them to tear it all down,” said Khalil Ahmed, in his 70s, who pulls a cycle rickshaw in Jaitpur for a living.
Several residents, meanwhile, also alleged that they were duped by dealers or owners of their plots.
Noor Muhammed, a scrap collector hailing from Guwahati, said he was paying a monthly rent of around Rs 15,000 to one Akthar Pradhan, the owner of Pradhan Gardens. He claimed that Pradhan had assured them that nothing would happen to them.
Santosh said that he had bought the land from a dealer for nearly Rs 6 lakh.
He said he was never informed about the issues associated with the land. Dev, a battery dealer, who also bought a plot of land from a dealer, looked on as the house that he had stayed in for less than a year was reduced to debris.
The Indian Express reached out to the SDM to get the total number of structures which have received notices, but did not get a response.
The Mussoorie station-in-charge, Devender Singh Chauhan, said that the woman had been receiving treatment for low blood pressure. He said that they collected all the materials from the spot to establish a sequence of events.
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