With the end of Diwali festival, a team of Haridwar district administration on Sunday took action against the encroachments made by political leaders in the city.
On Sunday, one mechanical excavator of the Haridwar municipal corporation demolished the encroachments made reportedly by a local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the northern part of the city. In the near future, the encroachments purportedly made by other politicians belonging to various parties will also have to face action from the authorities, said the officials.
According to information provided by sources, local BJP leader Gangadhar Pandey had reportedly encroached upon the land of the State primary school number 44 in Bhupatwala area. A long time dispute had also ensued on account of the same. Some of the local political leaders of the BJP were also said to be against this encroachment. The Haridwar Municipal Corporation had failed to take concrete action against this encroachment earlier but under the pressure from local media and local BJP leaders, the team decided to finally take necessary action on Sunday. The land where the BJP leader had made a Gaushala (cowshed) was clared by a team from the municipal corporation.
Officials said the anti encroachment drive shall be carried out at other places in Haridwar as well. The corporation and the district administration have made a list of such encroachments in the city which are done reportedly by leaders of the Congress, BJP and other political parties. The areas earmarked by the administration include, Northern Haridwar, Bhupatwala, Chandi Ghat, Bairagi Camp, Shivlok, Tibdi, Jwalapur, Sarai, Roshanabad and parts of Rawli Mehdood. In these areas, lot of encroachment has been done by those linked to political circles.
If sources are to be believed, for a long time the administration had been mulling over carrying anti-encroachment drive in these areas but due to political pressure the action had been delayed. local resident Ratan Mani Dobhal says that after a long struggle of the local people the action could be taken. “The district administration officials were always dilly dallying the action, but at last they carried out the anti-encroachment drive. There are many places where government land has been encroached by local leaders,” said Dobhal.