Admin staff on demolition drive face public wrath

A demolition drive against unauthorized constructions on agricultural land in Bhondsi tehsil turned ugly when its owners supported by the locals hurled stones after engaging in heated arguments with the officials of district town planning (DTP) enforcement wing. Dhananjay Jha reports.

A demolition drive against unauthorized constructions on agricultural land in Bhondsi tehsil turned ugly when its owners supported by the locals hurled stones after engaging in heated arguments with the officials of district town planning (DTP) enforcement wing.

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“All these arguments happened in the presence of police. The protestors also tried to disrupt the demolition drive resulting in injuring one of the staff members. The sealing squad finally carried the drive uninterrupted on Friday when the duty magistrate Zavinder Malik threatened the crowd of dire consequences," said Dilbag Singh, district town planner (enforcement).

"We repeatedly warned the crowd not to throw stones, remain quiet and allow officials to do their jobs," said a police official.

According to the officials, these unauthorized constructions were raised on agricultural land in contravention of the law, which prohibits owners of land from further dividing the land into small areas in order to sell them to make residential complexes.

The DTP had served notices to the owners of these land owners warning them to dismantle the unauthorised houses.