Demolition drive suspended as angry locals come marching

JAMSHEDPUR: Hundreds of local residents, led by opposition leaders, marched on Thursday against an eviction-demolition drive in Jamshedpur East, the home constituency of Chief Minister Raghubar Das. The district administration has assured the agitators that the drive will not start again until plot demarcation is finished.

Around 2,000 residents, men and women, marched from Baradwari to the office of the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) in Sakchi against the eviction drive at Baikunthnagar and Krishnanagar. Marching under the banner of Ghar Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, they raised slogans against the chief minister and the district administration for demolishing houses, and handed over a memorandum to DC Amit Kumar.

The district administration is to construct 27,000 houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) on 75 acres of land in Birsanagar of Jamshedpur. Around two years ago, the administration had reportedly placed a board for the housing project, prohibiting encroachment. However, several hundred houses were built there by the land mafia, according to sources. About 30 such houses were demolished over a couple of days when the eviction-demolition drive began last month.

Appealing for an end to the demolition, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha leader Abhay Singh, Congress leader Anand Bihari Dubey, and other political party leaders submitted a memorandum to the DC.

Amit Kumar said that the administration did not want to demolish people’s homes, but the houses were built on land where encroachment was strictly prohibited. “The administration would demarcate the area for the proposed housing project,” he added. Until the demarcation was done, the eviction-demolition drive would be suspended, Kumar told the delegation.

Dubey said that according to the area identified for the housing project, some 2,000 more houses were to be demolished. He said, “We are not against PMAY, but it should not [come] at the cost of existing houses. We are with the district administration’s action against illegal constructions. But public representatives should be punished first. Who promoted encroachment by promising locals ‘ownership rights’? The general public should not be the only target of [action against] illegal constructions.”