Tempers flare during MC’s demolition drive

Ludhiana: Residents opposed the demolition drive carried out by the municipal corporation in Upkar Nagar on Tuesday. The residents were livid with the MC officials for not taking action against an “illegal” building in the area that belonged to a Congress councillor while they were demolishing pedestals on which people had kept plants. The drive saw heated arguments and manhandling.
The civic officials claimed that on the high court’s directions they had gone to remove the encroachments, but people opposed the drive. Cops could not control the residents, who levelled allegations against the Congress leader for constructing an illegal multi-storey building in the area. They said they raised their voice against him, so he sent the MC officials to remove the pedestals. People alleged that officials of the building branch were corrupt and instead of removing the large-scale encroachments, they were busy razing ramps outside houses.
The residents tried to stop the officials by sitting and standing in front of the JCB machine, and the cops had a tough time removing them. The residents alleged that there was no woman cop in the drive and policemen manhandled the women. The situation turned tense and residents and officials exchanged heated arguments. The officials claimed that they had razed about a dozen illegal structures, but at a few locations people tried to interfere.
Commotion in the area invited the attention of commuters as well.
Assistant town planner Madanjit Bedi said there were around 35 encroachments in the area and they removed all despite public interference. He said they had earlier served notices because they had to file a reply in court in 15 days. He said they removed encroachments on the road, and the building about which people were complaining was regularised long back and MC had collected Rs 20 lakh from the Congress leader.