Bulldozers begin razing houses in Khori

Faridabad: With less than a week left for the six-week deadline set by the Supreme Court for 10,000 houses built illegally in Khori village to be razed, the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) on Wednesday began pulling down the concrete structures with bulldozers amid heavy police deployment. The drive, which started around 11.30am, was halted after two hours due to heavy rain and will resume on Thursday.
The top court had passed the demolition order on June 7 because the houses encroached on the eco-sensitive Aravali forest land.
Ten teams constituted by the district administration, comprising police and MCF officials, carried out the demolition drive. Nearly 3,000 cops, including three DCPs, 12 ACPs and crime branch officers, were deployed and traffic police and Rapid Action Force teams were also present. A total of 17 bulldozers were pressed into action. While the authorities did not divulge details, locals said about 150 houses were demolished.
During the drive, police barricaded the road leading towards the village. Entry of vehicles was restricted and was reopened after the drive concluded around 1:30pm.
“We have completed the target set for the first day of demolition and we will complete it before July 19 as per the Supreme Court order,” Dr Garima Mittal, MCF commissioner, told mediapersons.
Mittal added that for rehabilitation of the displaced villagers, arrangements had been made with the help of Red Cross Society.
“We will set up camps for villagers to apply for rehab. We have also arranged for temporary shelters,” she said. The locals, however, were unsure about the rehabilitation plan and told TOI they would stay back in the village and sleep in the tents or in vehicles.
‘Belongings now
buried under debris’
While the drive did not see any violence or protests, there was visible anger and dismay amongst the villagers. Many broke down looking at the dismantled structures.
Sukhbir Singh, whose house was the first to be demolished, had gone to his village in UP’s Mainpuri after the lockdown was announced and had returned only four days ago. He had no inkling of what was in store.
“I had made my house with my hard-earned money. Most of our belongings are now buried under the debris. I have five children. Where will I take them? We will stay here only by making some temporary arrangements,” Singh, a labourer, said as he and his wife sat down to eat food provided by a policeman.
Vimlesh Sharma, another villager whose house was razed, held one of her grandchildren and took shelter in a parked auto. Sharma said she had come to Khori village from Mainpuri about 15 years ago. “We had invested our life savings in this house and don’t have any place to go. All of us have decided to stay back here,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Mukesh Shah, a rickshaw puller, said his family has been spending sleepless nights for the past few days.
“We are not thieves. We bought these houses with our hard-earned money. The government has come up with a rehabilitation plan but the majority of people here are daily wagers and don’t have a good income. How will I pay for the EWS flat? The government will give us an assistance of Rs 2,000 to pay rent, but where will we find such an accommodation? They should have first planned our rehabilitation and then started the demolition,” said Shah.