Notices to Armors Township residents for illegal constructions have been issued by Nagpur civic body. Under fire from Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started issuing notices to illegal constructions close to high tension (HT) lines.
On September 12, the civic body served notices to 18 residents of Armors Township, Sugat Nagar, asking them to demolish the illegal portion of their house within 48 hours failing which the NMC will do the job itself.
The notices spread panic among residents. They immediately contacted a lawyer, who told them that they should intervene in the public interest litigation (PIL) going on in the HC.
On May 31, 2017, twins Piyush and Priyash Dhar got electrocuted while playing on the terrace of a row house in the township. Many others, too, lost their lives when they came in contact with the HT lines.
TOI carried a series of reports on the danger posed by HT lines to residents living below them. The HC took suo motu cognisance of these reports and asked NMC to demolish all the illegal structures under HT lines.
There are 3,672 such illegal structures under HT lines. NMC issued notices to all of them on September 12, including residents of Armors Township. The high court has asked for an action taken report from the NMC before September 18.
Ganesh Rathod, assistant commissioner of Asi Nagar zone, said only the illegal portion of the township houses would be razed. “Jaripatka police have assured us protection on Monday. If the residents fail to raze the constructions on their own, we will demolish them,” said Rathod.
Residents of the township, however, said that injustice had been meted out to them. “It is the builder who is at fault but we are paying the price. Neither the HC nor the NMC gave us a hearing. This is against the principles of natural justice,” said Manish Sakhre, a resident.
Sakhre demanded that NMC should give them time till Wednesday, when HC would hear the matter. “The HC should hear our lawyer before ordering the demolition of our houses. Our houses should not be razed during the rainy season. An HC order itself says that no demolition should be done during monsoon,” he said.
Countering Rathod, Sakhre said that NMC had asked them to demolish their beams and columns. “If we demolish them our whole house will collapse. NMC is therefore asking us to demolish our entire houses. We still urge NMC to give us some time to demolish the illegal portion of our homes and not use machines to do it. If they do that our homes will completely collapse,” he added.
According to Sakhre, the decision of HC and NMC is unjust. “There are several senior citizens, who have invested their life’s savings to buy the houses. If their homes are demolished, where will they go? One lady’s husband works in Korea. How can the NMC ask her to demolish her home without any help from her husband,” he said.
All the violators have flouted norms safety norms by building their homes near high tension (HT) lines. As many as 3,502 of them built houses without sanctioned building plan that makes them susceptible to accidents as their constructions are perilously close to HT lines.
Info– Et realty