Faridabad Irrigation Dept to evict 2,500 encroachers

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, February 13

The Irrigation Department has served eviction order to around 2,500 residents of Patel Nagar and Prem Nagar occupying its land in Sector 4-R here. The department has decided to demolish illegal construction soon after the deadline of February 17.

Copies of the order have been pasted at public places and doors of houses and shanties in colonies spread over about eight acres. The dwellings are located on a one-km stretch on the bank of the Gurugram canal.

The order say all construction on land of the Irrigation Department is required to be removed by February 17, after which these will be removed forcibly with police assistance.

“We have sought deployment of a duty magistrate and police for this,” says Virender Singh Rawat, Executive Engineer. Admitting that the encroachments had been existing for over two decades, he said the issue had been taken up with the authorities from time to time.

Hari Lal, president of the Residents Welfare Association of Patel Nagar, found fault with the the eviction order. He claimed that the colony was an old one and no alternative housing or land had been provided to them so far.

There were similar encroachments on land of the Irrigation Department and HSVP on the bypass from Badarpur border to Sector 8. The area under illegal occupation was over 20 acres.

Half of the shanties had already been razed and the rest were likely to be pulled down in the next couple of weeks, said an official. He pointed out that flats had been allotted to several affected families.