Illegal structures on key drain razed

BHARATPUR: THE CITY FLOOD CONTROL DRAIN

WAS BUILT IN 1733 TO RELEASE FLOOD WATER FROM BHARATPUR

The district administration removed encroachments from the city flood control drain (CFCD) on Wednesday amid protests from women, who had constructed houses on the drain.

The Bharatpur municipal corporation, Urban Improvement Trust, irrigation department and district administration has started a joint operation against the encroachers, who were given 10 days to vacate the land.

Officials reached Jaghina gate under Mathura gate police station area with more than 150 police personnel and JCB machines for razing the illegal structures.

The operation will continue till June 30 to remove all types of encroachments from the drain.

Family members including women protested before the officials. A woman, Hemlata Devi, fell unconscious and was rushed to the government’s Raj Bahadur memorial district hospital.

Social worker Girdhari Tiwari accused the district administration of discrimina- tory action. He said the administration should have provided shelter to the poor people before taking action.

Sub-divisional magistrate of Bharatpur city, Pushkar Mittal said, “We are removing the encroachments on high court’s directions to restore flow of water in the canal (drain).”

Shrinath Sharma, a lawyer, said the high court issued order to remove encroachments from canal on May 19, 2012, but civic authorities didn’t act until Wednesday.

The HC issued show-cause notice to the district administration on May 17 after a contempt of court writ was filed. The court ordered to restore the status of 1955 map, when width of the drain was 120 feet, Sharma said.

The City Flood Control Drain (CFCD) was built in 1733 to drain out flood water from the city.