Owaisi appreciates Supreme Court ruling on Haldwani encroachments, calls for their regularisation

New Delhi [India], January 5 (ANI): All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday appreciated the Supreme Court ruling that stayed the demolition of encroachments in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani and said that “regularisation” is the only solution to the issue.

Owaisi said that SC has taken a ‘humane’ view of the Haldwani issue. “Supreme Court has taken a humane view on Haldwani and rightly observed that 50,000 people cannot be displaced in 7 days. It has emphasised the need for rehabilitation and recognised that many people bought land in 1947,” he said. He called the Uttarakhand High Court order for removal of the settlements as “absurd”.

“SC stayed absurd HC order that asked the government to displace people without due process and even deploy paramilitary force. But SC has asked to distinguish between regular and irregular homes. It said the government must make a workable arrangement and ensure rehabilitation while respecting railways,” he added.

The AIMIM chief also took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that they think the minority community deserves “bulldozers”.

“The only workable arrangement is regularisation. Both BJP and INC must accept their hypocrisy. They have routinely regularised “illegal” settlements in Delhi. Modi government has regularised settlements twice, but according to BJP, Muslims only deserve bulldozers,” he said.

He also questioned the Congress party for not resolving the issue during its tenure in the state and the centre.

“Why did Congress not resolve this issue when it was in power in Uttarakhand and in the Central government? Now BJP Union and state governments must regularise people’s homes in Haldwani and give them relief,” he said.

The AIMIM chief claimed that thousands of poor people have got relief in Telangana because of the regularisation of shelters.

“Every human has a right to shelter. In Telangana, on AIMIM representation, thousands of households got relief and will be allowed to regularise their homes at Rs250/sq.yd. The market value in these areas is at least Rs50,000. The only criteria is that these are poor people,” he said.

He also asked BJP and Congress to “learn” from Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR).

“Congress and BJP can learn from Telangana CMO. Instead of harassing people and ruining children’s lives in peak winter, we need to take a compassionate view,” he added.

Incidentally, in a major ruling on Thursday, Supreme Court stayed the Uttarakhand HC order of removing the encroachments from railway land in Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area.

“There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight,” the SC bench said.
The Uttarakhand High Court had on December 20 ordered the removal of encroachments from railway land in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani after giving notice to the residents one week in advance.

Notably, a total of 4,365 encroachments, with people living on the land for several decades, were on the brink of being removed from the area after the ruling.
The residents facing eviction have been protesting against the removal of encroachments from railway land in compliance with a High Court order.