By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 11 May: Dehradun Municipal Corporation (Doon Nagar Nigam) has identified 525 houses built illegally on government land in 27 settlements (slum colonies) located on the banks of the Rispana. Notices have been served on the owners of these buildings for demolition. Copies of the notices have been pasted on the entrance of these buildings and the owners have been asked to remove the encroachment themselves by 15 May, following which the demolition exercise will be carried out by the Nigam with the cooperation of the district administration and the police.
It may be recalled that the demolition exercise against illegal encroachment on government property along with the river banks and on nullahs, etc., has been initiated to implement the orders of the Uttarakhand High Court. However, it will also be pertinent to remind here that several such exercises had been initiated in the past by government mostly in pursuance of the High Court’s decision but the demolition drive could never be completed. It remains to be seen if this time the demolition of illegal settlements and illegal slum colonies can be completed or not. The orders issued by the High Court are for the entire state.
After 15 May, a task force will be constituted to carry out demolition action by running a joint campaign with the district administration. Upon being served eviction notices, there is chaos and panic among the slum dwellers and the residents are reaching the offices of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (Nagar Nigam) in large numbers along with “documents” to stop the demolition drive.
However this drive has been initiated on the instructions of NGT and High Court and the Municipal Corporation has geared up to remove encroachments and illegal settlements. During the first phase of the demolition drive, the Nigam aims at removing encroachments done after the year 2016. In the first phase, the Municipal Corporation has identified 27 illegal settlements at a distance of about 13 km from Kath Bungalow to Mothrowala on the banks of River Rispana. All the illegal encroachments and the construction carried out after the year 2016 are claimed to have been identified. After the implementation of the ordinance regarding slums, according to the rules, constructions after the year 2016 have been considered illegal.
During the survey, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation has identified a total of 525 encroachments. A notice has been served regarding all 89 encroachments found on the Municipal Corporation land and an ultimatum till 15 May has been issued. The notice says that in case the encroachment is not removed, the Municipal Corporation can take coercive action. After receiving the notice, the residents of the colony are turning up at the offices of Nagar Nigam, claiming that that their constructions date prior to 2016 and are also presenting certain documents in support of the claim. In case, some buildings do turn out to be older than 2016, their names can be removed from the list.
According to the Corporation, 27 slum colonies have been identified by the Municipal Corporation in the first phase. These colonies are Veer Gabbar Singh Colony, Kishanagar; Kath Bungalow Dhak Patti; Kath Bungalow-2; Arya Nagar Basti Karanpur; Body Guard Jakhan; Ambedkar Colony DL Road; Adhoiwala, Rispana Khatik Colony; Vijay Nagar Adhoiwala; Bhagat Singh Colony Adhoiwala; Panchpuri Chander Road, Dalanwala; Gandhi Basti Dalanwala; Chander Road, Dalanwala; Balbir Road Dalanwala; Sanjay Colony Mohini Road, Dharampur; Shiv Nagar, Ajabpur; Rajiv Nagar Part-2 Rispana; Rajiv Nagar Part-1; Rispana Nagar, Ajabpur Kala; Upper Rajiv Nagar, Dharampur; Kedarpur Slum Colony, Kedarpur; Deep Naga, Ajabpur Kala; Rishi Nagar, Adhoiwala; Rajiv Nagar, Kandoli; Anand Gram Adhoiwala; Gas Godown Kishan Nagar, Rajpur Road; Nemi Road Malin Basti, Dalanwala; Shastri Nagar, Chuna Bhatta and Indra Puram Colony.
Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Kumar shared that a task force was formed to identify buildings built on government land after 11 March, 2016. The task force went to the spot and conducted surveys. About 525 buildings were identified in the settlements. Of these, 89 houses are built on Municipal Corporation land in Dehradun, 12 on Municipal Council land in Mussoorie, 415 houses on MDDA land and 9 houses on State Government land.
