Survey of 'encroached' land in Haldwani begins

A survey of the land at Banbhoolpura in Haldwani began on Sunday to determine how much of it belongs to the Uttarakhand government, officials said. The railways have laid claims on the land on which thousands of families have been living for decades.

The survey is being done on the basis of a 1959 revenue map of the area, Nainital Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Ashok Joshi said.

He said the survey is being conducted in compliance with a court order which had asked the state government to tell how much of the encroached land belongs to it.

Revenue and forest departments and the railways are jointly conducting the survey, he said.

The forest department has pillars and boundaries in the area after which the railways' land begins, followed by 'nazul' or government land, he added.

"We are going by the 1959 revenue map of the area, which is the most reliable document in this regard," Joshi said.

Banbhoolpura came into focus early this month when its residents hit the streets against an Uttarakhand High Court order for demolition of encroachments from the railways land in the area.

On January 5, the Supreme Court stayed the order for removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land claimed by the railways, terming it a "human issue" and saying that 50,000 people could not be uprooted overnight.

According to the railways, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land.

Nearly 50,000 people, a majority of them Muslims, belonging to over 4,000 families reside on the disputed land.

The top court fixed February 7 as the next date of hearing in the case.