Power, water cut-off, Sec-144 in Khori village ahead of SC-ordered eviction of 30K
GURUGRAM: The Faridabad district administration on Tuesday enforced Section-144 around 200 metres range of Khori village. This official ruling now prevents gatherings of more than five or more people around the area and also prevents weapons of any kind from being carried around at the site.
The step by the administration comes as it gets all set up to carry out a massive demolition drive at Khori village which has been illegally settled in the forest area of Aravallis — an exercise that is to raze over 6,000 structures thereby displacing over 30,000 people.
On June 7, the Supreme Court ordered the Haryana government to carry out demolition and remove all illegal encroachments that have come up over the years.
According to the official survey that was conducted, there are around 6,157 structures that need to be demolished. Among these structures, there are not only residential houses but also educational institutions, religious structures and also commercial establishments. The district administration has already cut -off electricity and water supply to the area which as per officials had also been arranged through illegal means.
It is estimated that settlements around the area started two decades ago in the early 2000s and have continued to grow as two major South Haryana cities of Faridabad and Gurugram grew economically during these years.
Knowing that there is no way out, a large number of families who were residing in the village have already begun to leave the village. However, there are still a large number of families who are protesting over demolition of their homes and are demanding the public agencies to first get them rehabilitated in another area.
"We have conducted the survey and are now all prepared for removing the illegal structures as per the directions of the Supreme Court. Even though it is going to be a major challenge to maintain law and order and carry out the entire process peacefully, we hope that we will be able to carry out the entire process effectively," said a senior official from Faridabad District Administration.
Illegal encroachments and mining for long have been major challenges at Gurugram and Faridabad Aravallis. Failure of successive state governments to curb these encroachments has led to several citizens filing petitions in High Court and Supreme Court to take cognisance of destruction being caused to Aravallis.
