Khori: Two held, 200 booked for disrupting demolition drive

The Faridabad police on Wednesday arrested two persons and booked 200 residents from Khori village, illegally settled on Aravalli forest land, for disrupting a demolition drive conducted by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad at the village

The Faridabad police on Wednesday arrested two persons and booked 200 residents from Khori village, illegally settled on Aravalli forest land, for disrupting a demolition drive conducted by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) at the village.

Nine JCB machines were used to raze illegal structures in Khori village on Wednesday, officials said. (Sourced)

“On Wednesday morning, a team from MCF, along with around 150 police personnel, reached Khori village to remove residents who started living there again illegally after a demolition drive conducted last year. The residents tried to obstruct the process and pelted stones at police in which two female personnel were injured. Two persons have been arrested and 200 residents booked for obstruction and other relevant sections of IPC,” said Sube Singh, spokesperson for the Faridabad police.

The MCF had cleared illegal encroachments from the forest land in June-July last year when the Supreme Court fixed a six-week deadline to remove the 6,600 dwelling units in the Khori village.

A senior official from MCF, requesting anonymity, said, “A team went to Khori village on Wednesday with around nine JCB machines to raze illegal structures where residents had been illegally staying for the past six months.”

Yashpal Yadav, MCF commissioner, did not respond to calls for comment.

Residents, meanwhile, alleged that their belongings were set afire by police officials and they were lathicharged.

“Around 10.30am, MCF officials, along with police personnel, came to Khori and started demolishing our makeshift houses using JCB machines. When residents resisted, they were lathicharged and even their auto rickshaws were burnt. No notice was given to us. After the demolition drive that was conducted last year, no rehabilitation has been done till now,” said Muskan, a resident of Khori.

However, police officials denied the allegations and said that residents had pelted stones at them.

Around 1,000 families had been staying in Khori village since the MCF conducted the demolition drive last year, the officials said.

The district authorities on Monday released a list of over 1,400 residents who were allotted flats at Dabua colony in Faridabad as part of the rehabilitation process. The residents have been asked to submit their documents and bank account details at a temporary MCF office set up near Khori village on January 25 to proceed with the EWS flat allotment process, the officials said.

Meanwhile, activists and scholars working in the area and supporting the residents fight the case in the apex court also said that rehabilitation has been promised but the residents have not been given an alternative place to stay yet.

Ishita Chatterjee, a PhD scholar from the University of Melbourne, who has been studying Khori village, said, “The residents have continued to stay in the same location since there is no other option. They have not been given any compensation, and the rehabilitation flats are not ready. So, the question remains -- where will they go? After the forced eviction, the government has further augmented this problem.”

Nirmal Gorana, general secretary of Bandhua Mukti Morcha, an organisation that has been working with the residents of Khori village to seek rehabilitation, said, “After demolishing 10,000 houses, giving houses to 1,403 families and rendering the rest homeless is a grave injustice. So many people applied for homes, but they have not been given any alternative accommodation. They are not even being allowed to live amid debris in their original place.”