E-Paper
Demolition drive: Improvement trust officials ‘manhandled’ by encroachers in Bathinda
A senior official of the improvement trust and other employees were allegedly manhandled when they went to carry out a demolition drive on the Bathinda-Goniana road here on Friday.
A senior official of the improvement trust and other employees were allegedly manhandled when they went to carry out a demolition drive on the Bathinda-Goniana road here on Friday.
Residents of the area had illegally encroached 3,000 square yards for past several years. The trust approached the Punjab and Haryana high court which. on August 31. ruled in its favour and allowed them to take possession of the land.
HS Chahal, executive officer of the trust, said, “We sent notices to the encroachers to vacate the land well in advance, but they have failed to do so. Therefore, we asked the local administration to provide security to the team carrying out the demolition drive.”
He alleged that when their team reached the spot, the caretaker of a local temple exchanged “heated arguments” with the superintending engineer Rakesh Garg. He was later allegedly manhandled.
“The team had to return on security grounds. It revisited the spot in the evening with additional police force to take possession of the land,” he said.
Meanwhile, the residents of the area alleged that they had requested trust officials to give them some more time to vacate but the officials did not take any note of their demand.
