Officers save land sharks from demolition drive, alleges social activist

A social activist Kuldeep Bhandari alleged that the officers leading the anti-encroachment drive are not serious in the matter. He cited an instance of the officers doing nothing to free around 3000-acre Government land in Premnagar area from the encroachers-builders and traders. Some of these buildings were marked for demolition, but they were spared the hammer of the demolition later thanks their owners’ big connections, he said while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

Notably, in course of the High Court-ordered anti-encroachment drive now going on in the city, thousands of squatters were marked and then razed down by the Government teams constituted for the purpose. “The order from the court is a good one as it is meant to free the city from the clutches of the encroachers. But unfortunately, the drive is not being conducted as it should be. The officers who are leading the drive are acting partisan for some builders and traders who are enjoying good connections with the politicians who call the shots,” Bhandari alleged.

Elaborating further, the social activist said that the officers have not touched the buildings and shops which had come up on Government land measuring around 3000 acres in Premnagar area. “They were earlier marked for demolition, later they were conspicuously spared the drive,” he said, adding that the politicians saved them from facing consequences of the demolition drive by uniting and stopping the drive. “We still find the traders and the builders doing business from the Government land they keep under them through encroachment,” he said.

Bhandari said that his fight is against the land sharks and the encroachers. “The land must be taken away from them and they must be made to face the consequences of occupying Government lands through encroachment,” the social activist said.