Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday over the demolition of houses in Tughlaqabad in Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Delhi and said buildings were being razed so the 'land mafia' could take over the area. The ex-Uttar Pradesh chief minister also claimed the homes belonged to migrant workers from his state and neighbouring Bihar.

Yadav tweeted a news report that said '... houses of thousands of unorganised labourers were demolished... as part of a drive to remove encroachments... migrant workers wept for their destroyed homes...' and that many had resided in Tughlaqabad 'for decades'.

"The houses of people from UP and Bihar, who are residing in Delhi's Tughlaqabad since many years, are being demolished. Isn't there any humanitarian aspect to this? The BJP is conducting the demolition drive in order to grant (the) land to mafias..." Yadav declared.

Akhilesh Yadav's comment comes after officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi - which is ruled by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party - and the Delhi Police supervised the demolition of a number of buildings on the historic Tughlaqabad Fort site.

Archaeological Survey of India officials told Hindustan Times earlier the Delhi Development Authority had handed over 2,661 bighas around the Fort for maintenance in 1995.

Section 19 of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, declares no person shall construct any building within the protected area.

The demolition was carried out on orders from the Delhi High Court after the ASI requested an anti-encroachment drive. Sources told news agency PTI 40-50 per cent of encroachments had been cleared and 'more action will be taken later'.