UP: Fresh notices served to houses built over encroached rail land in Mathura

Day after several houses built over encroached railway land in Nai Basti area here were razed by the rail officials, fresh notices were served to the remaining houses on Thursday asking the occupants to vacate the area within three days.

“After three days, demolition work that was suspended on Wednesday will resume,” said Nitin Garg, the divisional chief engineer of DRM office Agra. He added that 60 houses have so far been demolished while demolition notice was given to 135 houses.

The said houses were illegally constructed on both sides of the track in between Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Amar Nath School, Mathura over a period of five decades.

Garg claimed that notices were served in the same time frame for vacating railway land, adding it, thrice, did not make any impact on the encroachers.

Yaqoob Khan, who is pleading the case of those issued notice to vacate in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division, claimed the demolition drive is illegal since the case is pending in the court and next hearing is slated for August 21. He said he will also file a contempt case against alleged illegal demolition.

Khan added majority of the houses that were demolished on Wednesday and those served notice to vacate belong to the people of Muslim community.

The divisional chief engineer has on the other hand denied any legal dispute pending in the court. The demolition work was suspended on the request of the owners of majority of houses, the officials said.

Earlier, some ladies tried to stop the work. They, however, rescinded their decision finding massive force, including local police, PAC,RPF and GRP.

The land is being vacated to make way for conversion of 12 km meter gauge to broad gauge with the plan to set up five stations in between and making infrastructure for running of high speed trains on the route, which is the dream project of Mathura MP Hema Malini, said her representative Janardan Sharma.

It will facilitate pilgrims to go to Vrindavan without changing trains at Mathura Junction Railway Station, he added.

According to rail officials, the demolition work will continue till the track is cleared on both sides.

Phooldol Mahraj, the head of Chatuh Sampraday Vrindavan, said the meter gauge was laid before independence by the king of Jaipur for transporting stone slabs to Vrindavan for the construction of Jaipur temple.