The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday launched a signature campaign demanding legal protection for residents living in unauthorised colonies in the O-Zone of Yamuna riverbanks in Delhi and urged the Centre to enact a law safeguarding them from demolition.

O-Zone is the ecologically sensitive area on the floodplains of the Yamuna river where construction is prohibited. More than five lakh people live in 91 unauthorised colonies in the O-Zone.

The Delhi High Court on May 23 had observed that residential colonies in the region are “completely impermissible”, while noting that 91 unauthorised colonies in the area continue to enjoy temporary protection from punitive action only until December 31 of this year.

Last week, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced that no demolition would be carried out on existing constructions in the colonies and maintained that the Delhi High Court’s concerns were related to only fresh or ongoing construction activity.

“Verbal promises of Rekha Gupta and this government mean nothing as they have a habit of lying. Despite saying demolitions won’t happen, demolitions are continuing everyday in Jaitpur, Burari and Timarpur,” AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj told The Indian Express when asked about why a campaign was being launched when the government has assured that no demolitions will take place.

Bharadwaj said party MLAs, councillors, leaders and workers would go door-to-door in affected colonies to collect signatures, which would later be submitted to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  demanding a legislation in the Parliament granting protection to O-Zone residents.  “We will go to the residents in all 91 of these colonies, which are spread across the assembly constituencies of Burari, Timarpur, Karawal Nagar, Okhla and Badarpur,” he said.

The campaign would last for around a month, Bharadwaj said.

Referring to O-Zone areas, he said thousands of families had been living in these colonies for decades and were now facing uncertainty.