Khori: Demolition drive starts, 200 houses razed on first day

Locals said that around 200 houses were demolished in the drive, but there was no official confirmation. The drive is set to continue and will be completed before the next hearing in the Supreme Court, said officials

The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) on Wednesday morning kicked off the demolition of illegally built houses in Khori village to reclaim Aravalli forest land. Officials said that the drive went on from 11am to 2pm and that the target for the day was achieved.

Around 10,000 houses are set to be demolished. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Locals said that around 200 houses were demolished in the drive, but there was no official confirmation. The drive is set to continue and will be completed before the next hearing in the Supreme Court.

Garima Mittal, the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, said, “The action to remove illegal encroachments from forest land in Khori area of Lakadpur village was started by the municipal corporation on Wednesday. We have time till July 19 to comply with the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and all encroachments will be removed in this stipulated time. The target set for Wednesday was achieved and the demolition drive was stopped due to rain.”

On June 7, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of thousands of slum dwellers encroaching on the Aravalli forest area in Faridabad district, holding that “there cannot be a compromise or concession on forest land.” There are around 10,000 households in the village.

A senior official of the district administration, requesting anonymity, said that nine teams were deployed on the ground for the demolition drive and over 3,000 police personnel, including three deputy commissioners of police, 12 assistant commissioners of police, traffic police personnel, crime branch officials, a rapid action force and Swat teams, were deployed as part of the security arrangements.

Anshu Singla, the deputy commissioner of police (NIT), who oversaw the drive, said, “The demolition squad of the MCF reached Khori village with 17 JCB machines on Wednesday morning to remove illegal encroachments from forest land. This action will continue, in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court, and till then, necessary protection will be given to the MCF squad. Strict action will be taken against any anti-social elements.”

During a visit to the area on Wednesday, an HT team learnt that mainly, houses in Vishwakarma Colony were demolished on Wednesday. Items like water tanks, utensils, folding beds, chairs, cupboards were kept outside, covered with tarps, underneath which residents were taking shelter from the rain.

Residents said that the police force was deployed in the village at 6am, but the demolition started around 11am.

Sangeeta Devi (37), a mother of three, whose house was demolished on Wednesday, said, “I was going to bathe today morning, as usual, when all of a sudden, I heard a loud noise. People started gathering outside their houses. I rushed outside with my children and picked up whatever little items from my house and kept them aside before a bulldozer ran over my house.”

“We had finished construction of our house just six months ago after spending around ₹6 lakh. We had taken a loan and still have to pay back around ₹3 lakh. Where will we stay and how are we supposed to pay back the loan? So far, we had only been paying a monthly interest of ₹5,000 as we could not even think about clearing the principal amount,” she said.

On Tuesday, the administration announced a rehabilitation initiative for residents of Khori village, but residents said that they are still waiting for camps to be set up to facilitate registration. Locals said that they were not even given any information on the application process.

Roopmani Devi, a resident of Vishwakarma Colony, said, “This would not have happened had there been people. All these days we were being told that demolition won’t take place and we will be informed if it happens, so most people went out to work, and from behind, our houses were demolished. We used all of our savings and bought a house here around two years ago. Now, where do we go?”

Nirmal Gorana, a member of Mazdoor Awaaz Sangharsh Samiti, that has been working with the residents to seek rehabilitation, said, “Just 24 hours ago, the MCF talked about rehabilitation, which it has not been able to implement so far and today (Wednesday), they came down to demolish houses in Khori. Officials talked about giving rehabilitation on the grounds of humanity, but they did not have the slightest mercy to first take the people to the transit camp and then take further action. The government should immediately give shelter to the people in the transit camps till the arrangements for rehabilitation are made.”