12th century shrine razed in DDA drive at Mehrauli

On January 30, the grave of Baba Haji Rozbih believed to be one of the first Sufi saints in Delhi - located inside Sanjay Van, a dense reserved forest in Mehrauli, was razed to the ground by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

- Sanjeev K Jha and Aheli Das

NEW DELHI:  A senior DDA official told HT that several religious structures inside Sanjay Van, which is a part of the Southern Ridge, were demolished, including the 12th-century grave.

"As per the Ridge Management Board, the ridge area should be free of all types of encroachment, and so a committee was formed which suggested the removal of several illegal structures inside Sanjay Van," said the DDA official, who asked not to be named.

The demolition comes even as more than 314 hectares of the Southern Ridge are encroached, according to reports submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). These encroachments include scores of multi-storey buildings and sprawling farmhouses, many of which have expanded deep into the dense forests of the ridge. Authorities have done little to take them down, despite a raft of court orders and observations. For instance, in December last year, the Delhi high court pulled up the state government for "dragging its feet" on stripping the Ridge of encroachments.

But the demolition action, and the logic, prompted historians and activists to raise questions over "encroachment" by an edifice that has existed for 900 years, and wonder if the agencies were targeting old monuments rather than new violations in the forested area.