Illegal structure razed in Ambala

The PWD (B&R) conducted an anti-encroachment drive to remove part of a ‘peer mazar’ on the government land in Ambala City on Tuesday evening.

The ‘peer mazar’ is situated on old NH-65 opposite Panchayat Bhawan in Ambala City. Some portion of the mazar illegally encroached the PWD land, which was shown in the demarcation report conducted and submitted by the Revenue Department. The mazar is situated on the edge of the bituminous road and creates problems for the road users and is a cause of several accidents.

As per the demarcation report, there was an encroachment on 810 sq ft area on the PWD land, adjoining the road.

Last week, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal had staged a dharna against the encroachment made by those who had constructed a ‘peer mazar’ on the government land and demanded its demolition. The administration had fixed November 19 as the date for the anti-encroachment drive. Though the caretaker of the mazar had also filed a stay application against the demolition drive, the application was dismissed on Tuesday.

After the application was dismissed, the process to remove the illegal structure was started. Though initially the caretaker of the mazar started the process of dismantling but later the department engaged machines to expedite the demolition process.

BJP leader advocate Sandeep Sachdeva, who has been associated with the VHP, said, “The application filed by the other party has been dismissed by the court and the demolition drive was conducted. If they try to encroach upon the land again, we will approach the court and take action. Though the department has removed the structure, we are not satisfied because the remaining structure is also illegal. We will continue to take a legal route to get the structure demolished.”

A heavy police force was deployed. Meanwhile, Executive Engineer PWD (B&R) Ritesh Aggarwal, said, “There was encroachment on 810 sq ft area on land and after plea was dismissed, in compliance with the directions of the court, the illegal encroachment on the PWD land has been removed. They were initially given time to remove their structure, after which machines were engaged for the demolition. The remaining structure is on the land of other departments and only they can take action.”