By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 24 Jun: The Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) today continued action against encroachments, and 59 houses built after 2016 on the banks of River Rispana were demolished in Kath Bangla and Vir Singh Basti.
It may be recalled that despite an order in this regard issued by National Green Tribunal (NGT) sometime ago, no action was taken against encroachment. However, a petition was filed in the Uttarakhand High Court which had sought an explanation from the government over its failure to comply with the orders of NGT. The government has been forced to take action as a result. Even now, the government has taken a decision that constructions carried out after 2016 will be demolished and others will be spared. MDDA today demolished 59 houses built after 11 March, 2016, in these areas.
MDDA has identified 125 houses in Kath Bangla area as having been constructed after March, 2016, of which action was taken against 59 houses today. Incidentally, some of the 125 house owners identified in this area claim to have documents of the period earlier than 2016 and, presently, they have been spared.
It may be recalled that on the instructions of NGT, a total of 524 encroachments were identified in the survey of illegal constructions done after March 2016 on the banks of Rispana River in Dehradun. Of the total number of encroachments, 89 encroachments were found on Municipal Corporation land, 12 on Municipal land in Mussoorie, and 11 on revenue land of the state government.
At the same time, with respect to the land under control of Dehradun Municipal Corporation handed over to MDDA for the River Front Development Project, it was found that there are more than 412 encroachments. About a month ago, the Nagar Nigam had prepared a final list of 74 encroachments after hearing the objections and, after amendment, a total of 64 constructions were demolished in Chuna Bhatta, Deep Nagar and Bodyguard Basti. While notices were sent by MDDA regarding encroachments on River Front lands much earlier, the objections continued to be heard and investigated. After this investigation, a list of 250 illegal constructions identified on MDDA land has been prepared.
The MDDA has to take action by 30 June and submit a report of the demolition carried out to NGT even as this issue has become a political one now. The Congress is opposed to the demolition exercise, while the affected people also strongly opposing MDDA’s action. Some organisations have also raised objection to the fact that the government has decided to consider 2016 as the base year. They question the basis of this decision and call it unjust and unfair. Those having power and water connections in their properties before March 2016 are being considered older properties and have been spared from demolition but there are people who claim that their houses were constructed before March 2016, but they could not manage to get power and water connections earlier for various reasons. They are demanding that they be spared on the basis of other certificates and documents which prove that these houses existed before March 2016.
Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders have expressed strong opposition against the demolition exercise and have also staged protests.
District Magistrate Sonika said that the administration has made the electricity and water connections and other government facilities before the year 2016 the basis for the survey in these areas and, in view of this, all these constructions which were built after the deadline of March 2016 are being demolished by declaring them illegal.
