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| A bulldozer demolishes a building in Jorhat on Monday. Telegraph picture |
Jorhat, July 14: The hammer fell on boundary walls of a few buildings of Jorhat today, the sixth day of the eviction drive carried out by the district administration to clear encroachments along the Bhogdoi and several other streams passing through the town and its adjoining areas.
The drive was carried out by a team of administration staff (revenue branch) and officials, equipped with excavators and other tools, accompanied by a large force of policemen, including women police personnel.
Workers from the Jorhat Municipal Board and water resources department, too, were part of the team.
The boundary walls of at least four residential buildings belonging to the business community, which were along the Tocklai stream at Raja Maidam Road in the town, were demolished.
Among the four buildings, one was a multi-storied building, which was nearing completion, whose rear was found to be illegal.
A red-coloured sign indicating the illegal construction of the area of the building was marked for demolition.
The officials asked the building owner to demolish the portion on his own within day or two otherwise the district administration would bring it down.
“We will need more manpower and equipment and assistance of fire brigade staff to demolish pillars and floors — both ground and above and hence we have given the owner two days’ time to demolish the area with red sign,” an official involved in the drive said.
Apart from the demolition of boundary walls of four buildings, a part of an ice-cream factory on the bank of Tocklai in the same area was demolished.
Jorhat deputy commissioner Solanki Vishal Vasant told The Telegraph this evening that so far about 190 “obstructions” have been removed and the drive would continue till the encroachments were cleared.
Solanki said about 30 bighas plot of land along the Tarajan and Tocklai streams covering a length about 20km has been freed from encroachment since the drive was launched on Tuesday.
Boundary walls, toilets, storehouses, tea stalls, trees, bamboo bushes and a few houses where people do not reside have been removed during the drive.
Solanki said notices were being served after conducting a survey on the ground by the revenue department on encroachment of land by checking office records.
He said the survey was still on and all illegal constructions detected, irrespective of their ownerships, would be cleared.
“We want to carry out evictions in a peaceful manner by having people’s co-operation as the aim of the drive is beneficial for all (to prevent artificial flooding) and those who have encroached too suffer because of their illegal actions,” Solanki said.