Mathura, 10 Aug: The day after rail officials destroyed numerous structures erected on encroached railway land in the Nai Basti neighbourhood of here, new notices were given on remaining houses on Thursday, ordering inhabitants to evacuate the area within three days.
“After three days, demolition work that was suspended on Wednesday will resume,” said Nitin Garg, divisional chief engineer at DRM office Agra.
He went on to say that 60 properties had already been destroyed, while 135 had demolition notices issued.
Over a five-decade span, dwellings were unlawfully built on both sides of the track between Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Amar Nath School in Mathura.
Garg said that notifications were delivered in the same time period for abandoning railway land three times and that it had no effect on encroachers.
Yaqoob Khan, who is defending the case of those served with a notice to vacate in the Civil Judge Senior Division’s court, claims the demolition drive is unconstitutional because the matter is still ongoing in the court and the next hearing is scheduled for August 21.
He also stated that he will initiate a contempt action against the suspected unlawful destruction.
Khan stated that the bulk of the houses demolished on Wednesday and those given with notice to evacuate belonged to members of the Muslim community.
The divisional chief engineer, on the other hand, has denied any legal disagreement is now ongoing in court. The demolition activity was halted at the request of the majority of house owners, according to authorities.
Earlier, some women attempted to halt the work. They then reversed their minds after discovering a huge force, which included local police, PAC, RPF, and GRP.
According to Janardan Sharma, Mathura MP Hema Malini’s representative, the land is being vacated to make way for the conversion of 12 km metre gauge to broad gauge, with the plan to build five stations in between and infrastructure to run high-speed trains on the route.
He stated that it will allow pilgrims to get to Vrindavan without changing trains at Mathura Junction Railway Station.
According to train authorities, the demolition activity will continue until both sides of the railway are free. The metre gauge was established before independence by the king of Jaipur for bringing stone slabs to Vrindavan for the construction of the Jaipur temple, according to Phooldol Mahraj, the head of Chatuh Sampraday Vrindavan.
