Bulldozers raze 22 houses behind cancer hospital

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The area behind the Government Cancer Hospital opposite Aam Khas Maidan, known as Rauf Colony in Kabadipura, had seen houses constructed directly on the road for several decades, right up against the hospital boundary wall. The municipal corporation had earlier attempted to carry out an eviction drive on two occasions, but the action was stopped due to intervention by leaders of political parties. Over the past two to three days, the civic body’s anti-encroachment squad had served notices to residents, requesting them to remove the encroachments voluntarily. However, property holders, hoping that some political leader would intervene and halt the action, did not comply. As a result, the municipal corporation on Thursday used bulldozers to demolish 22 houses.

The land was required to lay drainage pipelines coming out of the GCH. Six months ago, two houses had already been demolished to install the pipeline. Due to the remaining houses, only two-wheelers and autorickshaws could pass through the area, while four-wheelers were unable to use the road. The municipal corporation had repeatedly issued notices to the encroachers, asking them to submit ownership documents, but no one came forward.

Municipal Commissioner G Sreekanth had recently ordered that the road be cleared, following which the demolition drive was carried out on Thursday afternoon. The anti-encroachment section’s officer Santosh Wahule visited the site to inspect the operation and provide guidance. The drive was conducted using two JCB machines amid heavy police deployment.

To ensure that residents’ belongings were not damaged during the operation, municipal corporation staff safely removed tin sheets, water tanks and other household items from the houses. Initially, some residents opposed the action, but police inspector Nirmala Pardeshi and municipal corporation’s deputy commissioner Savita Sonawane held discussions and brought the situation under control. By the end of the day, a total of 22 houses had been demolished.

The operation was carried out under the supervision of assistant commissioner of police Sagar Deshmukh, along with encroachment section inspectors Syed Jamshed, Sanjay Suradkar, Sundar Sagar Shreshtha, Ravindra Desai, ex- serviceman Pramod Jadhav, and a full team from the municipal corporation and the police administration.