The Haldwani administration began clearing illegal encroachments on railway land following High court orders. Encroachers took to the streets on December 28 demanding the revocation of the court order. Muslim residents offered namaz on the streets and claimed that they would be rendered homeless on account of the court order.

The drive will run for a month in the presence of a heavy police force. The city is expected to resemble a cantonment throughout the month when illegal structures would be removed from railway land. Arrangements have been made for the stay of the large police force by the district administration since about fifty thousand illegal encroachers are to be displaced by the drive. Police, local administration, and railways are committed to ensuring the removal of encroachments in a peaceful manner.

“The district administration has started preparations to keep the police force in town. For this, arrangements are being made at International Stadium Goulapar, Extension Training Center Bagjala, Mini Stadium Haldwani, and Guru Teg Bahadur School. Arrangements are being made for food and stay in these places for the police force. Electricity, water, and toilet arrangements are also being done in the area. The administration has entrusted the responsibility to the city magistrate to make arrangements for the accommodation of the police force in the city”, notes OpIndia.

“According to the demand of the railways, the administration is making arrangements for the stay of the police force, for which Goolapar Stadium, Mini Stadium, Training Center Bagjala, and Guru Teg Bahadur School have been identified. If needed, arrangements will be made for the stay of the force in other places as well”, the media quotes District Collector Dhiraj Singh Gabriyal as saying.

Reports highlight that about 4000 families, the majority of them being Muslims, have illegally occupied around 29 acres of Railway land for several decades. Railway authorities have emphasized that the encroachments are acting as an impediment to its expansion and growth plans.

“The Uttarakhand High Court had recently ordered the authorities to evict forthwith the unauthorized occupants to vacate the premises from the railway land adjoining Haldwani Railway Station, commonly called Gaffur Basti. Accordingly, the action was initiated on December 29 after providing residents with a one-week prior notice”, reports OpIndia.

In its December order, the Court asks the Railway Administration “to initiate an inquiry in order to check the extent of the land boundaries and its verification, and after the encroachers being removed after the aforesaid action, the Railway Administration should ensure that a proper fencing of the railway property is made by the Railway Administration and also ensure deployment of necessary forces to resist any future act of encroachment to be made on the railways land, from which, the eviction process as directed above is to be resorted to by the respondents.”

After the court order was passed, the railway authorities held a high-level meeting comprising administrative authorities and ADRM railways where they developed a master plan to eliminate encroachments on railway land in the Banbhoolpura district.

Residents were asked to surrender their licensed weapons and guns to the administration before the authorities commenced the eviction drive. This precautionary measure was taken because back in 2007 when railway officials conducted eviction operations for land segmentation and clearance of encroachment, it resulted in fights, arson, demonstrations, and stone-pelting.

Banbhoolpura residents were served eviction notices earlier too. Notices were sent in January, April, and July 2021. However, the residents contended that these notices were a means to harass them even as the case was subjudice.

Highlighting the contention of the encroachers, OpIndia notes “Families facing eviction have been arguing that the land belongs to the Haldwani Municipal Corporation (HMC) as opposed to the Railways. Residents in the Gaffur Basti region have been seeking ownership rights, regularization, the installation of sewage lines, hospitals, and the resettlement of people. They claimed that because the HMC owns 75% of the property, the delineation should be done jointly by the corporation and the railways. They further argued in February this year, that the Railways should only evict those who live on its territory”.

Not surprisingly, propagandist and Islamist bigot Mohammad Zubair rushed to the defence of the encroachers who held candlelight marches and performed namaz on the streets demanding that the decision be overturned by the government. Congress politician and prominent attorney from Delhi Aarfa Khanam, Congress MLA Sumit Hridayesh and Samajwadi Party in-charge Abdul Matin Siddiqui and general secretary Shoeb Ahmad also supported the illegal squatters.

(Featured Image Source: DNA)