Boundary wall of dera in Beas under admn's scanner; directed by HC to conduct survey

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 11

The Deputy Commissioner and his officials conducted a survey of the boundary wall of a dera and other residential complexes, which were allegedly constructed against the norms and within the periphery of the restricted area around the Army ammunition depot in Beas here.

Deputy Commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan, along with a Sub-Divisional Magistrate and officials of the Revenue Department, conducted the survey.

Acting on a civil writ petition filed by the Union of India against the State of Punjab and others, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Amritsar administration to scrutinise it.

The HC had directed the Amritsar’s Deputy Commissioner to visit the site along with the officials concerned to measure the original ‘khasra numbers’ (demarcation of land allotment), as per the revenue records pertaining to the under-questioned boundary wall, other structures and gauge their distance from the ammunition depot. The DC had been told to submit the report with the HC.

The DC along with a heavy police force and his battery of officials reached the spot. However, when he was discussing the issue with Revenue officials and the Army officers, authorities of the dera, along with a huge number of supporters, reached there and sat on a protest dharna outside the gates of the Army depot. They raised slogans against the state government, Army officers and the district administration.

The DC, along with others, later went to Beas sub-tehsil to scrutinise the revenue records. When they were scrutinising the records, the agitators came at the gates of the tehsil and started protesting there. Later, the DC told the people that there were some discrepancies in the revenue records, therefore demarcation could not be continued today.

As per the Defence Act, 1903, no one can construct any structure within a radius of 1,000 yards of an ammunition depot.

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