Lucknow: Bulldozers will roll and rumble once again in Uttar Pradesh but this time the “action” will be against encroachments on government lands, parks and ponds in areas under the jurisdiction of urban local bodies.
According to a state government spokesman, necessary instructions have been given to the authorities concerned to identify illegal constructions and encroachments.
Information regarding the encroachments must be updated on the ‘Anti Land Mafia’ (IGRS) web portal with the help of the revenue department, the instructions said.
A government order issued to this effect made it clear that it will be the responsibility of every civic body to provide the information to the director, Directorate of Local Bodies.
“All encroachments on government lands will be removed,” a senior government official said when asked if bulldozers would be used.
So far, bulldozers were largely used in the state to raze properties of criminals.
The campaign against land mafia has been underway since 2017, when the BJP government under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was formed for the first time.
The Revenue Department, which has been undertaking the anti-land mafia campaign since 2017, has constituted a four-level task force to review the drive at the state, divisional, district and tehsil levels.
Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra is chairman of the state level ‘Anti Land Mafia Task Force’, while principal secretaries of urban development and other departments are its ‘state-level’ members.
In a recent review meeting of the task force, it was found that information on the portal about illegal encroachments on public lands in cities and towns was negligible. This was the reason, perhaps, why fresh instructions were issued in this regard.
Some BJP leaders feel that the government’s decision to remove all illegal encroachments, in spite of the upcoming civic polls, only showcases its resolve to act against all those who violate the law.
Aurangabad: Suspended BJP leader from Telangana, T Raja Singh, has said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should imitate his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath and demolish illegal encroachments on government lands using bulldozers.
Addressing a gathering in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, formerly Aurangabad, on Sunday Singh said Shinde should ensure that encroachments from forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are removed and he should be known as “bulldozer Shinde”.
He was addressing a morcha organised by Sakal Hindu Samaj in the city demanding a law against “love jihad”.
“The Maharashtra Chief Minister should follow the pattern set by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The encroachments on government lands should be identified and they should be removed by procuring 100 bulldozers,” said Singh, an MLA from Hyderabad.
Singh also said the encroachments from the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj should be removed just like the tomb of Afzal Khan at the Pratapgad fort in Satara district of Maharashtra.
“Shinde should also be known as bulldozer Eknath Shinde”, he said.
Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena faction, shares power with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra.
Speaking about opposition from some quarters to the recent renaming of Aurangabad city in Maharashtra, Singh said, “Secular people say Muslims were members of Shivaji Maharaj’s force. If that is so why do they oppose the renaming?”
Another speaker Suresh Chavanke said that people should not purchase anything from shops which have “Aurangabad” written on their boards, and they should be banned.
“Now the name of Aurangabad is changed, we should also change the character of this city,” he said.
Maharashtra ministers Atul Save and Sandipan Bhumre were present on the dais at the event.
Singh is known for giving acerbic speeches against Muslims.
Recently, an offence was registered in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar against Singh after a video of his vitriolic speech targeting Muslims went viral on social media.
The MLA was also recently questioned by Latur police in Maharashtra over another provocative tirade of his, officials had said.
“Whoever speaks against Hindus, we will not spare them. In our Hindu Rashtra you won’t even get a loudspeaker to do what you do five times a day,” Singh had said while addressing a public meeting in Rahta tehsil in Ahmednagar district.
Singh was also heard saying that if someone wants to beat “lande” (a derogatory reference to Muslims), he should join Bajrang Dal. He is also heard seeking the support of youth to make India a “Hindu Rashtra”.
Guwahati: Assam was not habituated to seeing bulldozing of houses, large-scale evictions, and razing multi-storey buildings to the ground within hours. However, for the last two years, the scenario has changed dramatically soon after Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge as the Chief Minister.
Now-a-days, bulldozing is an everyday phenomenon in Assam. Either here or there, the eviction news has taken a regular spot in the media.
Though a lot of controversy has already erupted over ‘bulldozer-trend’, the state government is in no mood to give up, even after the High Court was extremely critical of these steps.
Sarma has repeated a number of times that his machinery would not stop till every occupied area was cleared of ‘illegal encroachment’.
Some private madrassas were demolished by district authorities in lower Assam over alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
The state government spared no time to raze these madrasas.
Badruddin Ajmal, Lok Sabha MP and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) leader, once said, reacting to a demolition drive against madrassas: “The madrasas are public properties that cannot be bulldozed without any legal notice. Even the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has stopped using bulldozers.”
The madrassas had to be dismantled because they were constructed in violation of the norms of building construction in the state, the authorities said.
In September, 2021, a violent outbreak between the police authorities of the Darrang district and the locals of Gorukhuti in Sipajhar Revenue Circle occurred during an eviction drive in the Dholpur area that resulted in police firing.
At least two protesters were killed and twelve others were injured in the incident.
Authorities in Assam’s Nagaon district destroyed the homes of numerous families in May last year after they were accused of setting fire to the Batadrava Police Station.
The police and administration took this step after a mob, in response to an alleged case of a local fish seller dying while being held in custody, set fire to a portion of the Batadrava Police Station in the district.
Later, the Gauhati High Court came down heavily on the Assam government after taking suo motu cognizance of the case involving the use of bulldozers on the houses of the accused in the Batadrava police station arson case.
The state government was questioned by the court over the legal basis for the use of bulldozers.
The court then told the government’s counsel: “You (the state government) show us any criminal law under which the police can uproot a person with a bulldozer without any order while investigating a crime.”
The two judges on the bench also observed, “Nobody is safe in the country if this kind of action is permitted.”
The government had to assure the court that proper action would be taken against those officers involved in the bulldozing of the accused’s houses.
However, all these could not stop the Assam government machinery from continuing with the bulldozing.
In the previous week too, in Cachar district, a good number of houses were dismantled by the administration, although the residents claimed that they had ‘proper’ documents for the buildings, the houses were razed without verifying the papers.
For the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Kashmir has started witnessing protests against the anti-encroachment drive in which bulldozer has become a symbol of state power.
The anti-encroachment drive in J&K was announced by the Union Territory administration to get the land vacated under the illegal occupation of the people in the past over three decades when armed militancy reigned supreme and the rule of law had taken a hit. The administration attributed the drive as compliance of an order of the High Court, in which the government was directed to retrieve the land from occupation of the people who had occupied the state land, which was acquired by encroachers as part of their power and influence, as beneficiaries of various schemes, particularly “ Roshini”. These schemes also benefited the small landholders, who had built their homes and shops to shelter themselves and to earn their livelihood.
Anything happening in Jammu and Kashmir has wider ramifications than what happens in other states or union territories. These drives assume greater political, demographic and class dimensions as the vast majority of people in Kashmir see it against the backdrop of the “snatching of their rights and privileges” under the special status which was granted to them under Article 370 and Article 35 A of the Indian constitution.
Article 370, though hollowed out over the decades, had its symbolic value in the separate constitution, flag, and the most powerful legislature in the country which had the powers to facilitate or stall central laws, and also make its owns laws. Article 35-A granted inalienable rights to the people of the state to the land and jobs, which was more critical to them than the symbols which differentiated the state from the rest of the country.
The anti-encroachment drive, in which bulldozers were extensively used to raze what the government called illegal structures on the illegally acquired land, were directed in the Valley, which is inherently Muslim-majority. In the Jammu region too, the bulldozers moved against the occupants belonging to the community. In comparison, there were very few structures were demolished in Jammu, belonging to other communities. That gave credence to the charge levelled by Kashmir’s political leaders, including Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, two former chief ministers. Mehbooba said that “majority was being turned into minority and minority into majority.” Omar described it as an “ imbalanced exercise”, implying that Muslims were being targeted more than other communities.
After the anger swelled, the authorities came out with the verbal assurance that the small landholders will not be touched, and also stated that only the powerful politicians, influential people, including former and serving bureaucrats involved in occupation of the land would be at the receiving end. This created a perception of class. But the poor too started receiving eviction notices. And the poor realised that things were not in their favour unless or until a formal order is issued. That order is awaited till date.
J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina, thundered in the Nai Basti area, a Hindu enclave in Jammu, where scores of shopkeepers and home owners were served eviction notices. He declared “I will face the bulldozers before it comes to you.” This was in contrast to the attitude of the party to the eviction notices served in Bhatindi, Sunjawan and narwal areas, the Muslim majority enclaves.
Today, that is Wednesday, several areas in Srinagar, witnessed the closure of shops and business establishments after almost three and a half years. This punctured the narrative that the “ hartal” culture is over to some extent. The anger is swelling and unless the government brings out a clear cut policy, this anti-encroachment drive will touch communal and political fault lines. The dangers are clear and palpable.
SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that the use of bulldozers have made Kashmir worse than Afghanistan.
Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, Mehbooba said the anti-encroachment drive launched in Jammu & Kashmir is being used as a weapon to suppress the people.
She said they are not against the government’s move to retrieve the land from land grabbers, but livelihood of people should not get affected.
Mehbooba also alleged that the drive is aimed at taking the shelters away from the people and the situation in Kashmir has been turned worse than Afghanistan.
While responding to a query, she said that the elections cannot be a solution to the Kashmir issue.
She said that the government is trying to divert the attention from the main issue of Statehood, restoration of Article 370 and other things. “We want a complete solution to Kashmir issue,” she said. (KNO)
Srinagar, Feb 06: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that the use of bulldozers have made Kashmir worse than Afghanistan.
Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, Mehbooba, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said the anti-encroachment drive launched in Jammu & Kashmir is being used as a weapon to suppress the people.
She said they are not against the government’s move to retrieve the land from land grabbers, but livelihood of people should not get affected.
Mehbooba also alleged that the drive is aimed at taking the shelters away from the people and the situation in Kashmir has been turned worse than Afghanistan.
While responding to a query, she said that the elections cannot be a solution to the Kashmir issue.
She said that the government is trying to divert the attention from the main issue of Statehood, restoration of Article 370 and other things. “We want a complete solution to Kashmir issue,” she said—(KNO)
SRINAGAR: The demolition drive has picked its pace in Srinagar and Jammu. There were scores of spots where the revenue officials, cops and bulldozers remained active for part of the two.
For different reasons, the two spots proved to be very distinct.
Malik Market
In Jammu’s Malik Market where the MG Hactor showroom is built on a piece of state land, at least four bulldozers came and started demolishing it. They damaged the frontal facade and part of the basement as hundreds of people were watching.
All of a sudden, the people of the area got furious and they reacted. They resorted to stone pelting as a result of which the demolition squad left the machinery behind and fled. It was a brief spell, however.
The showroom owner, Ghulam Mohammad Baig, a resident of Srinagar, has said that he has purchased the land in 1990 and he has papers. One report said he is willing to offer land in exchange so that his more than Rs 2.5 crore investment survives unscathed.
The demolition came against the background of continued protests by the inhabitants of the Sunjwan and Bathindi area of Jammu where at least six residents have received notices that they have constructed their homes on state land. A protest was also reported from the Sidhra area.
Reports reaching from Jammu said that the twin localities shut down normal life for almost four days. Though the government has been conveying that the drive is against the influentials only, the residents seemingly are unwilling to believe. Those who have got notices include at least three individuals having some political connection.
In Jammu, the authorities have already retrieved land from BJPs Kavinder Gupta, DDC Chairman from Kathua, and a former minister – all from BJP, and lot many have received notices including a few from Apani Party.
Padshahi Bagh
There were very disturbing visuals coming from Padshahi Bagh where an old woman was pleading that her relative’s property may not be damaged because he is a very poor man. Some people even said the property that was damaged is owned and there are documents to prove that. Residents claimed they received no notice and the bulldozer’s arrival was a shocking surprise.
A group of women attempting to block the bulldozer from demolition the space, they call ‘home’. The area witnessed an early morning demolition drive on February 4, 2023. KL Image: Special Arrangement
Besides, there was a man – apparently, a non-native, who was crying claiming he has been living on the spot for 20 years and had never been touched. He claimed he received no notice so that he could have arranged some alternative. It was not immediately known to which place he belonged.
There was a very disturbing visual showing two small girls crying near the bulldozers in a tight embrace. It was not immediately known whether they belonged to the native or the non-native.
Other Spots
The demolitions are taking place at such a scale that is impossible to report every single act. It is happening in all the districts.
Near Srinagar’s RTO office, authorities sealed a 4-storey complex but the owner; a lawyer briefed the media and showed his ownership details and the amount that SMC has already received more than 15 years ago. He also talked about the division bench’s direction that the property should not be touched at all. Besides, he claimed he has building permission as well. Barring the construction costs, he gave details of payments worth Rs 60 lakhs that different government agencies have already received.
The bulldozers remained active in Humhama where the outer compound wall of a former DC Budgam was demolished. This is the most prized housing settlement in Srinagar, perhaps the only one that is not served by any public transport service. Today’s demolition in the area was a follow-up to an earlier operation in which a police officer’s encroachments were retrieved.
Bulldozer was also found operating in the Nishat area where a lawyer – a relative of a politician, lives and her compound wall was destroyed. Authorities later raised a board saying it is state land.
Ghulam Nabi Azad had a meeting with Home Minister, Amit Shah in which the issue was raised. A day later, LG Manoj Sinha flew to Delhi and returned to Jammu the same day. Later that evening he told a gathering that the operation of retrieving the state land will continue.
The government has earlier said that they have retrieved more than 600 thousand kanals of land that was encroached upon across Jammu and Kashmir. The operation is likely to continue and intensify in the coming days.
