‘Bal Satyagraha’ launched against eviction drive
HALDWANI: Children on Tuesday started a “Bal Satyagraha” (agitation by children) against the proposed demolition of over 4,000 structures on 29 acres of railway land at Haldwani in Nainital district. They demanded the state government to come up with a detailed rehabilitation package for them.
The children along with their parents from Gafur Basti, Dolak Basti and Banbhulpura gathered at Buddha Park in Haldwani , and alleged that in the name of removing encroachments, a conspiracy was being hatched to demolish their schools, houses, and hospitals.
Anurag, 14, a student of class 7, said, “The land which the railway is claiming its own is our land on which we were born. Our schools and houses are located on this land. What will we do if they demolish our houses? We urge chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to look into this matter and save our schools and houses.”
“If authorities raze our schools in the name of removing encroachments, where will we study. We will become homeless and we will have no schools to study,” he said.
Aaliya 18, a class 12 student, said the government should work to settle them and not destroy their homes. “We are protesting by singing songs and demanding that our settlements should not be demolished. We demanded from the government to save our schools and homes,” she said.
North Eastern Railway has identified encroachment on 29 acres of land adjacent to Haldwani railway station. These include 4,365 illegal pucca constructions, government schools, temples, mosques and hospitals. Railways has made an action plan with the district administration to demolish this encroachment. Under this action plan, encroachers will be removed soon.
Ashok Joshi, additional district magistrate of Nainital, said the railways have identified encroachments on its land in Haldwani. “They have sought help from the district administration to remove the encroachments. We are looking into this matter. Appropriate action will be taken based on the facts.”