Yogi warns officials against targeting poor, seeks to target lawbreakers with bulldozers

The bulldozer, a piece of machinery effectively used as a symbol by the Yogi Adityanath government in ensuring law and order in the state, has now turned into a cause of consternation for the saffron party with reports of demolition of properties owned by the poor since he returned to power.

To ensure that the picture of effective governance during the first tenure is not tampered with, Yogi Adityanath has directed officials not to target houses and shops owned by the poor and confine the use of bulldozers to target mafia and criminal elements.

"Make sure that bulldozers are not used against the poor... the government will take action against the officials, who are found to target the poor,'' said Adityanath, who earned the moniker of "Bulldozer Baba."

The Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Prashant Kumar also issued strict instructions to the officials not to "misuse" the bulldozers. "Don't spare the criminals but don't touch the poor," he said.

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Kumar was at pains to explain that all necessary legal formalities were completed before proceeding with the demolition of the structures that were illegal and built on government land or on land parcels acquired illegally. "Bulldozers are not used until the legal requirements are completed," he said.

Also, there were reports that officials had been demolishing the illegal structures of the opposition party leaders only, following the demolition of a petrol pump owned by Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Shehjil Islam in Bareilly a few days ago. The action came soon after he allegedly made objectionable remarks about Adityanath.

In Banda district, the business establishment of another SP leader, who had switched over from the BJP before the assembly polls, was also bulldozed.

Reports from several districts also claimed that the huts and shops of the poor and petty shopkeepers were razed in the villages and smaller towns.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP government was in fact "trampling" the lives of the poor people by failing to control rising prices. "They are bulldozing peoples' lives," he said.

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