Lalru, December 14
It is a “catch-22” situation for over 800 families, who were uprooted from a slum colony in Zirakpur and were shifted to the prohibited periphery of Ammunition Depot, Dappar, as around 20 jawans from the depot pulled down their jhuggis in Gholumajra village in the vicinity of the dump.

A majority of the families have rendered homeless and are forced to stay in the open in this chilly month of December. The worst affected are the children and elderly persons.

Meanwhile, tension prevailed in Zirakpur after a minor clash between slum-dwellers and certain workers, who are deployed for removing the hutments. The agitated slum-dwellers smashed the glasses of two earth movers pressed to service. A police party has been deployed at the spot.

After The Tribune highlighted the issue, Mr Jagjit Singh Kang, alias Gora Kang, brother of Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries and Tourism, along with his men reached the spot and assured the uprooted families of rehabilitation. Mr Kang told the families that a discussion over the issue with the ammunition depot authorities failed to yield results.

The depot authorities, however, refused to come on records. Mr Amarjit Singh, security officer at the depot, who was heading the jawans in pulling down the jhuggis, claimed that they had been asked to remove the structures, as it was a no construction zone.