DIMAPUR, JANUARY 8: The Indian Railways have finally issued eviction notices to more than 700 people around Dimapur Railway Station who have alleged encroachment upon the land belonging to the Railways.
The Northeast Frontier Railways have on several occasions maintained that due to encroachment of railway land, development activities have not been possible at Dimapur Railway Station, which was declared as a model railway station a decade ago.
On Saturday, the Railway authorities pasted “Order under Sub-Section (1) of Section (6) of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized occupants) act, 1971” with names of the occupants at seven different places, which the Railways claimed to be their land.
The notice stated that the occupants on alleged railway land were asked to submit show cause on or before November 29, 2022 regarding unauthorized occupation of Railway Land and since they did not appear on the fixed date of hearing on December 6, 2022 with DRM/W/LMG’s Letter No. EO/212/DMV// W-4, dated 14/11/2022 and no satisfactory reply as well as convincing documents could be produced by them at the time of hearing on December 6, the Estate Officer, NF Railway, Lumding, declared them as unauthorized occupant of the said plot of Railway Land.
The Estate Officer further asked all persons who may be in occupation of the said premises or any part thereof to vacate the said premises within 15 days of the date of publication this order. In the event of refusal or failure to comply with the order within the period specified above, the occupants and all other persons concerned are liable to be evicted from the said premises, if need be, by the use of such force as may be necessary, the Notice stated.
Interestingly, the Eviction Notice was issued on December 16, 2022 by the Estate Officer and was only pasted in different localities on January 7, 2023.
The list of alleged unauthorized occupants includes some prominent citizens of Dimapur, as well as prominent buildings, schools, temples, etc.
It may be mentioned that in August last year, General Manager of NF Railways, Ansul Gupta had informed that the NF Railways was going to launch a drive to evict the encroachers initially with some negotiations with the help of the state Government
“The Supreme Court has already given its order that eviction of Railway land should be immediately done by the State and district authorities”, he had disclosed.
According to a Supreme Court ruling in December 2021, the Indian Railways is “equally responsible” for ensuring that there is no encroachment on its properties and it must initiate action against unauthorised occupants immediately after the issue is brought to its notice.
The apex Court, while hearing two separate pleas which raised issues related to the removal of encroachments from railway land in Gujarat and Haryana, said the Railways and authorities concerned must initiate action against erring officials for permitting encroachment and not taking action in earnest.
According to the order of the Supreme Court, the Railways was directed to immediately issue notices on the occupants of structures falling within the stretch, that are immediately required for resuming the development project by giving the occupiers two weeks to vacate the premises.
In respect of structures that are not immediately required to be vacated, the Railways may give six weeks’ time in the proposed notice prior to eviction and removal of structures.
The Eviction Notices were given to people near Ram Thakur Mandir, Railway Colony; near Namghar High School; Hazi Park; Sema Tilla; FCI Siding; near Thahekhu Village Gate; in between Zakiesato Colony and Veterinary Colony Railway KM/No 261/5-6 and 259/4-5 km to 259/7 (LHS) and Lahorijan area, besides some other places.
Talking to Nagaland Page, a shopkeeper of Hazi Park confirmed about the eviction notice being pasted in the Hazi Park and said that there has been a lot of resentment amongst the shopkeepers whose names have been mentioned in the list.
While the stretch of Hongkong Market (Railway Station side) and some godowns have been listed to be in the railway property, even Pranab Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Hanuman Mandir, etc are also on the list, though some have been mentioned “on railway lease”.
A resident of Railway Colony told Nagaland Page that the eviction notices have been served to people by the NF Railways and the aggrieved persons may still take help from the Court.
He said in the past too, the NF Railways tried to evict the encroachers, but most of them went to Court and got stay orders.
Mention may be made that most lands which the NF Railways claims to be theirs have concrete and semi-concrete structures that have also been reportedly obtained land pattas. In another case, a set of people declared to be possessing unauthorized land has been bracketed under DMC Market.
Since the NF Railways have not been able to take any concrete steps in the last 15 days of serving the notice, people feel that the case may linger on, thereby hindering the development works at the Dimapur Railway Station.
While modernization works of almost all Railway Stations in the country are in full swing, Dimapur Railway Station still faces problems of land encroachment. If the problem persists, the Railways may even find it difficult to bring in double laning of tracks within the 8-km length of railways which falls under Dimapur district.
It was not known how much time has been given to the people mentioned in the Eviction Notice to take necessary action.
(Page News Service)
