DDA sets up teams to monitor unauthorised constructions and encroachments

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has formed teams to conduct field inspections to identify unauthorised constructions and encroachments at an early stage and tear down the illegal structures built on government and private land, officials said on Sunday, days after Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Taranjit Singh Sandhu announced a “zero-tolerance” approach towards encroachment anywhere in the Capital.

According to agency officials, 14 Flying Squad Teams and four Quick Response Teams (QRTs) have been entrusted with the task of carrying out field inspections across the DDA zones.

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Issuing operational guidelines, the authorities said the flying squads will identify unauthorised structures and encroachments, determine the ownership and status of the land, document violations through geo-tagged photographs with date and time stamps, and submit reports for enforcement action.

The revised framework also permits drone-based inspections to improve surveillance and monitoring across the city for better protection of DDA-owned land. According to the DDA statement, any ongoing unauthorised construction, even on private land within the Development Areas, shall be demolished after due process of law under the new protocol.

The Quick Response Teams have been authorised to pull down any illegal construction within 72 hours of submission of the detection reports from the flying squad team, following due legal procedures, noted the DDA officials. Response teams are expected to submit demolition reports, including the geo-tagged before-and-after photographs of the demolition site, by the end of the day. Besides conducting the demolition activities, the QRTs will also videograph the demolition exercise wherever required and ensure that the DDA ownership board is fixed at the site.

Officials also noted that the revised framework integrates field verification with the Vacant Land Monitoring System (VLMS), which they stated enables regular updating of land records, verification of vacant plots following demolition, and continuous monitoring to prevent re-encroachment.