In Haldwani, Uttarakhand, there is a war going on over the question of who owns the railway land. This is a war between the railways and the people who claim that they have been living here for the last several decades. Some people here also say that they have been living here for more than 100 years.
Haldwani, which falls in the state of Uttarakhand, was formed around 100 years ago, in the year 1950. Over the last several decades, a lot of the land allotted to the Railways was occupied by the people, and the politicians took no initiative to vacate this land for a vote bank. Now, a controversy has erupted in Haldwani due to the recent High Court order.
The area of Haldwani, where the railway land is being said to be encroached upon, is the area of about 2200 meters long railway line. There is an encroachment on land up to 800 feet width around this 2200-meter-long railway line.
Three government schools, 11 private schools, 10 mosques, 12 madrasas, and one government health centre are currently present in the area. Not just this, but over 4000 families are currently residing in the area, and claim to own the land.
All these settlements are in the process of being removed by the administration on the orders of the Nainital High Court. The administration has to remove encroachments on railway land. Now there is a court order and on paper this land belongs to the railways, giving the authorities the permission to run bulldozers on the encroachment.
This dispute over encroachment on this railway land has a long history. The dispute over encroachment started with illegal mining in a nearby river. In 2013, a social activist filed a PIL in the Nainital High Court. In this petition, it was told that illegal mining is taking place in the Gaula river near the railway station.
The petition said that the people involved in illegal mining are the same people who had encroached on the railway land. After the issue of railway land came up, the court also sought a reply from the railways. The railways proved that the land belongs to them by showing a notification of 1959, a revenue record of 1971, and a land survey of 2017.
When it was proved in the High Court that the land belongs to the railways, then orders were given to vacate the land. The people living here were not made a party in the case till then. People approached the Supreme Court on the order to vacate the land. However, after a long hearing, the Nainital High Court, on the basis of evidence, admitted that the railway land has been encroached upon. Now the administration is trying to vacate this land.
When the action to remove encroachments on railway land started, there was panic among the people living here for years. Around 60,000 people live in the Haldwani area where the land has encroached. There is anger among these people that they have been settled here for many decades. They were never asked to move away, nor did they receive any notice of any kind. Some also have the necessary documents like house tax papers, electricity bills, and ration cards for their homes.
So in such a situation, they want to know how the land on which they are settled is not theirs. People living here claim that they have been living here for decades. They also voted to form several state and central governments. They are asking questions as to why they are being removed from here. These people are not ready to move away.
There are all kinds of small and big, mud houses and hundreds of slums in this entire area. The administration has planned to remove 4,365 encroachments in total, which have to be removed with a bulldozer. But due to the opposition of the people, this action has not been completed at the moment.
The controversy of the Haldwani encroachment case is still undergoing and the people of Haldwani are not ready to budge, despite the court order.
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