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Musahars in Kashi village allege pressure to vacate houses, shift
Musahar families in Karsada village of Kashi said around a month ago, a team of revenue officials reached the basti and told them that they would have to vacate their houses and shift elsewhere as Atal Residential School was to be built on the land.
VARANASI Over half a dozen Musahar families of Karsada village here have alleged that the administration was pressurizing them to vacate their houses and shift to another location, as the Atal residential school for the children of labourers had to be built on the land. The Musahar basti is on the outskirts of the village.
They also alleged that six houses were demolished by the administration on Friday night. However, the district administration said that the people concerned were given prior notice.
Rajesh Kumar of Musahar Basti said that 13 families had been living in the basti for over 16 years. Around a month ago, a team of revenue officials reached the basti and told them that they would have to shift as Atal Residential School was to be built on the land.
Baldev Kumar said his house was demolished by the team and the power connection was snapped. He and his family were living under the open sky, with winter approaching.
Rajesh Kumar said that they were asked to shift to a location around a km away from the basti. He said when he and the others asked for alternate accommodation, they were told it would take time to build 13 houses. They would be given houses after they shifted.
The angry people said they would shift only after the administration built houses for them, equipped with potable water and electricity connections.
However, district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that some people were illegally occupying about one acre of handloom department land.
He also said all 13 families had been allotted lease on the barren land of nearby gram samaj. After this, 3-4 families had been shifted and others were being shifted. Vehicles had also been provided for their convenience.
He said they were told to show ownership records, which none of them did. They were trying to spread confusion by presenting land document of other people.
He also said some of these people stopped the workers of PWD contractors from levelling another 11 acres of vacant land. They also beat up the PWD workers.
The PWD had been directed not to do levelling on this one acre for some time and to get the work done on the other 11 acres of land. Revenue personnel and police had been directed to ensure that there was no disturbance of any kind, he said.
