NEW DELHI, Aug 5: Around two dozen medical stores and other shops were bulldozed to the ground on Saturday morning as Haryana’s Nuh district administration’s action against “illegal” construction continued for the third day.
On Thursday, the authorities had razed shanties of migrant labourers living in Tauru, about 20 kms from violence-hit Nuh, for encroaching on government land.
Bulldozers rolled in at Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, Nalhar, in Nuh, amid heavy police deployment to demolish around two dozen shops, mostly pharmacies, opposite the main entrance of the hospital. These shops have been there for years.
Bulldozer action continued at different places throughout the day, with district administration teams present on the spot. 50 to 60 structures in different areas have been demolished so far. Many have fled, fearing arrests.
Security has been strengthened across Nuh following the clashes over an attempt to stop a Vishwa Hindu Parishad procession. Violence has spread to Gurugram over the past few days. Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, have died.
Sources said the district administration has started removing all those illegal encroachments, which could not be removed for the last several years. The local MLA and deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Aftab Ahmed, has protested against such action. “In Nuh, it is not only the houses of the poor that are being demolished, but the faith and trust of the common people is being destroyed as well. Villagers have said that houses and shops were demolished today, by giving notice in back date of one month. Government is taking wrong action to hide administrative failures, this is repressive policy,” he tweeted along with a video of the demolition.
Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Friday said 202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes. He also said the way bullets were fired from hillocks and stones collected on rooftops of buildings indicates that Nuh violence was pre-planned.
Anil Vij has alleged “a big game plan” behind the violence. However, in a press conference on Friday, the Nuh Superintendent of Police said they have so far found no indication of a mastermind behind the clashes. In all, police have so far filed 102 FIRs in the matter.
(Manas Dasgupta)