Nagpur: The development agency has shown its true colours, again. It has betrayed its own words or notice. The development agency has failed to walk the talk. The situation could be defined in dozens of other spicy words. The development agency, in a showoff to assert its authority, had put the over 500 families on tenterhooks of an illegal colony by issuing ‘vacate notices’ to them. The notices had asked the occupants to vacate the huge land within a month on their own or face eviction by force if they failed to act. The authorities had issued the ‘vacate notices’ to the illegal colony called ‘Shivkrishna Dham’ situated on Koradi Road in North Nagpur.
The day of slapping of notices was January 11. And in accordance with the 30-day period mentioned in the notices, the illegal construction and encroachment from the lands in the colony should have been demolished by the occupants themselves. Forget the occupants moving to other place the agency miserably failed to act and evict them by force by the deadline of February 11.
The enormous task of evicting hundreds of families from hundreds of houses would have warranted a gigantic manpower apart from machinery and a strong posse of policemen. Watching the movement of NIT’s North Nagpur Anti-Encroachment Squad it seemed that the development agency was gearing for momentous action against ‘Shivkrishna Dham’ residents. The action would have been termed a grand success and a shattering blow to the encroachers as well as big fish that supported the illegal colony. However, nothing tangible happened. The NIT officials were found unmoving and seated hands down.
The squad waited and waited for directives:
The NIT’s North Nagpur Anti-Encroachment Squad, well-apprised of ‘late latifi’ style of working in government circles, waited and waited for 24 hours expecting firm directives from top bosses to go ahead with the demolition mission. But the squad had to return empty handed. No. With the JCB machines, bulldozers, trucks, and dozens of men. The NIT showed its true colours when it comes to actions of matter. Waste of time and money, it seems, is the motto of Nagpur Improvement Trust.
It is pertinent to recall that Nagpur Today had run a report titled “NIT puts 500 families of illegal colony on tenterhooks by serving vacate notices” wherein it was stated that ‘Over 500 families could find themselves on tenterhooks as the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), acting tough, has issued notices to them to demolish illegal construction and encroachment from the lands owned by over two dozen persons within 30 days.
The over 500 families had erected illegal construction and encroached the huge land situated behind Wox Cooler Factory on Koradi Road since the year 2009. Moreover, the NIT has also issued notices to illegally constructed slums in nearby areas to vacate the lands on their own. The NIT move is being seen as netting the smaller fish and sparing the bigger ones. Notably, a 6.35 hectare land exists in Mauza Zingabai Takli area comprising Khasra No. 107, 108, 108/3, 109, 110, 110/2, 111/1, 111/2/1 just behind Wox Cooler Factory.
Around 29-30 persons own land in these khasras. However, following no amicable settlement among these land owners, one of the members of a infamous family, taking advantage of internal bickering, usurped the land in 2009 and started settling illegal colonies on the seized land. Several needy people from outside Nagpur, in the hope of owning a house, spent between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.50 lakh for erecting structure on the received land.
Some persons even constructed 2-3-story buildings. At present, the colony has around 500 houses constructed illegally. With high political reach, the member of the dubious family facilitated construction of roads and electric poles with the funds provided by then DPC and NIT quota. Water supply pipelines were also laid. Moreover, a weekly market is also run on Monday……….’
– Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha ( rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com )
