The seventh attempt was no better than the previous ones. The result is no better than the earlier attempts, too.

A police team, assigned to remove illegal encroachments from the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) premises, returned empty-handed on Monday for the seventh time in the past two years.

Violent protests by unauthorised occupants, who have constructed multi-storeyed buildings on the hospital premises, forced the police and administrative officials to make a hasty retreat. The squatters blocked the road and indulged in stone pelting and arson, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

Around 400 policemen, armed with court orders, reached the hospital premises around 10.30am and started demolishing the boundary wall erected on the encroached land. Soon, they had to face the wrath of the residents, who assembled in large numbers to protest the drive under the banner of Rashtriya Navnirman Manch.

The police later resorted to baton charge to disperse the protesters, who were not in a mood to relent. Gauging the mood of the protesters, senior officials, including additional district magistrate (law and order) Surendra Kumar and deputy superintendent of police (Patna City) Rajesh Kumar, ordered the men in uniform to stop the operation and return to the district headquarters.

City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande also rushed to the spot. 'But he too left the scene without ordering anything to the officials present there,' said a police officer, who was part of the anti-encroachment drive.

The officer revealed that seven attempts have been made to remove encroachments from the hospital after the Supreme Court verdict in October 2012. 'But every time the police team with designated magistrate comes to the spot, starts the process and returns empty-handed,' said the owner of a medicine store near the hospital.

Sources said 21 acres have already been encroached upon of 88.817 acres of land. 'The process of encroaching the government land started about three decades ago. Houses and big buildings were not built in a day rather it took decades to come up. Initially, all the agencies, including the hospital authorities, ignored it. They started raising their voice only when the situation turned from bad to worse,' a senior hospital official said under condition of anonymity.

The laxity on the part of the agencies can be gauged from the fact that most of the unauthorised occupants got the land registered in their names and also got the ownership of the land transferred. Even electricity connections were provided to all the occupants, who named it after Adharsh Colony. 'The anti-encroachment drive is nothing but eyewash to avoid wrath of the court, which is monitoring the developments,' said a tea-stall owner.

NMCH superintendent Santosh Kumar hoped that the administration would comply with the court orders. 'It is up to the district administration to remove illegal encroachments. We are ready to cooperate with them,' he told The Telegraph.

On the other hand, Rashtriya Navnirman Manch office-bearer Vijay Sah iterated their resolve to continue their protest. ' Hum log marne mitne ke liye taiyyar hain (We are ready to face the consequences),' he said, adding that they have been staying on the land for decades.