South Eastern Railway’s Chakradharpur division has served eviction notices to over 2,000 people staying illegally on its land at Tinplate in Golmuri for the past 30 years.
Debun Bagan, Krishna Nagar and Nanak Nagar in Golmuri cropped up on railway land after a line laid for Tinplate Company’s siding was rendered useless in the late eighties.
The notice, served by SER’s estate department recently, has asked owners of unauthorised houses to appear before a railway court at Charkradharpur in West Singhbhum on December 13 and contest why they should not be evicted from the railway land.
While most of the houses on the railway land were built in the 1990s, some had even come up in 2005.
“I had constructed a house on a 49sqm land around 20 years ago along with many others. But now, the railways wants to evict us and has served a notice to appear before its court on Thursday. Where will we go if our houses are demolished,” said 65-year-old Shanti Devi, a resident of Debun Bagan in Tinplate.
Fear writ large on the face of 60-year-old Janki Devi who had also been served an eviction notice. “When the line is lying defunct, why is the railway so much interested to get back its land. The SER should reconsider the move and drop the idea of evicting so many people for getting back its land. After all, where will we go after being evicted,” Janki Devi, also from Debun Bagan, said.
Another resident Mangal Gupta said after getting the notice, they were left with no option than to defend their stand in the railway court.
“We had been hearing that the railway was planning to serve eviction notice. Now, we are left with no option than to consult legal expert to find a way out,” Gupta, a resident of Krishna Nagar, said.
Senior divisional engineer of Chakradharpur division Anup Patel said SER wanted to clear the encroachments from the railway land at Tinplate in Golmuri.
“We want to clear the railway land where hundreds of unauthorised houses and commercial complexes have come up. We are in touch with the civil administration for its support in evicting people from Tinplate,” said Patel.
