Gurugram: Days after communal violence rocked Haryana’s Nuh during a ‘Braj Mandal Yatra’ organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Matra Shakti Durga Vahini, the district authorities Friday demolished dozens of structures, including shops and houses, that were allegedly used to attack the procession with stones and gunfire.
The demolitions were carried out on the orders of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who said that no illegal structures used for anti-social activities would be tolerated, read a press note issued by Nuh Deputy Commissioner (DC) Prashant Panwar.
“The illegal structures had been made on five acres of forest land behind the Nalhar Shiv Mandir and the authorities demolished all those structures during its action Friday,” added Panwar, who was transferred Friday evening.
The Nalhar Shiv Mandir is where more than 3,000 people were allegedly trapped after the violence on 31 July, and the assailants allegedly fired gunshots from the hill behind the temple.
According to Panwar, demolitions were also carried out on six acres of forest land at Punhana town, where a house built illegally was also razed. Similar action was taken in Nagina town, where structures built on one acre of land in Dhobi Ghat area, and two acres of land at Nangal Mubarakpur were demolished, he added.
A spokesperson of the district police also told ThePrint that the buildings demolished at Nuh were used for pelting stones and firing shots at people.
However, Aftab Ahmed, the Congress MLA from Nuh, condemned the action as illegal and an attempt to hide the government’s failures. He told ThePrint that he met the DC as well as the superintendent of police (SP) Friday morning and requested them to stop such “illegal actions”, but he was not given any satisfactory reply.
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Officers transferred
The Haryana government’s crackdown was not just restricted to demolishing “illegal” houses, it also came down heavily on police officers. The government Friday evening transferred Nuh DC Prashant Panwar less than 24 hours after moving Superintendent of Police (SP) Varun Singla. Dhirendra Khadgata replaced Panwar.
Panwar, who had the additional charge of CEO Mewat Development Agency, Nuh, has now been given various other charges in Rohtak that include — special secretary, Fisheries Department; administrator, HSVP, Rohtak; and additional director Urban Estate, Rohtak; commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Rohtak and district municipal commissioner, Rohtak.
Late Thursday evening, the government transferred Nuh SP Singla to Bhiwani and appointed Narendra Bijarniya, the SP of Bhiwani, as his replacement. Bijarniya had been acting SP of Nuh since the violence broke out and until Thursday morning as Singla was on leave.
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‘BJP-JJP government has failed’
Speaking to ThePrint, Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party government has failed to discharge its duty in preventing violence at Nuh and was now depriving the poor of a roof.
“More than a dozen villagers from Nalhar accompanied by their sarpanch approached me and complained that the authorities suddenly came with bulldozers and razed their houses. After demolition, they handed over notices showing dates of a month back. Similar action has been taken at Nuh town, where several houses and shops have been bulldozed,” said the Congress leader, adding that similar action was witnessed at Tauru on Thursday.
He also alleged that innocent people were being rounded up by the police in the name of investigation, and people’s houses and shops were being bulldozed illegally without following the procedures laid down under the law.
“I will oppose all kinds of illegal action and move the court against all unlawful actions of the government,” he told ThePrint.
ThePrint reached state Home Minister Anil Vij and SP Narendra Bijarniya via calls for comment, but did not receive a response. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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