Haldwani (Uttarakhand): An anti-encroachment drive was conducted on the railway land near the Lalkuan station on Thursday. The demolition drive to remove the illegal settlements was carried out as per the High Court order. Amid the stiff opposition from the people, the bulldozer ran over several illegal constructions. A large contingent of police personnel from the railways and district officials were present at the spot. When the bulldozer began demolishing the structures, protesting people began raising slogans against the administration. As precautionary steps, several protesters were taken into custody.
A tomb (Mazar) was razed with the help of a JCB machine. The railway administration was tightlipped to say anything on the anti-encroachment drive. Deputy District Magistrate Manish Kumar said that the encroachment was removed within a radius of about 400 metres.
Also read: UP: Two temples, a tomb razed in Muzaffarnagar for widening Panipat-Khatima highway
Lalkuan railway station is the biggest railhead in the Kumaon district of Uttarakhand. The railway administration has been planning to operate several trains from this station. The semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train will be launched from Lalkuan railway station under the Amrit Bharat scheme. The expansion project of the railway station is also on the cards. Hence, the railway administration has been fighting to reclaim its grabbed land for the past few several years.
On May 3, the railways issued notices to encroachers and told them to vacate the premises by May 18. In 2018, the state government and the railways jointly began probing the encroachments on the railway land. Earlier, there were 84 encroachers on the railway land, which swelled up to 4,000.
