Nearly 200 illegal structures razed in Gandhvi

In the notices, the government had said the houses were encroachments on government land.

Sources in the revenue department said 102 structures were demolished in Gandhvi Saturday and encroachment was thus removed from 3.70 lakh square feet of land (sqft). On Sunday, 137 more structures were razed, clearing another 5.10 sqft land. “A majority of the structures demolished
included residential premises, a few commercial establishments and a handful of religious structures as well,” said an officer.

These unauthorised structures were constructed on the government land known as Harshad Bandar or Harshad Harbour in the Mendha creek near the shrine of goddess Harsiddhi, said sources. “These houses, godowns, etc were located very much along the seacoast and can be used as a landing point for illegal smuggling such as that of narcotic drugs,” the Devbhumi Dwarka SP said.

“The police deployment continues to pre-empt any untoward incident,” Nitish Pandey, Superintendent of Police (SP), of Devbhumi Dwarka told The Indian Express, adding, “Around 800 police personnel, including two companies of the SRP (state reserve police) have been deployed in the harbour.”

This is the second major demolition drive along the Devbhumi Dwarka coast in about three months.

In October last year, the government undertook a major demolition drive and razed a few hundred structures in Bet Dwarka, an island off the Okha coast on which Dwarkadhish Mukhya Mandir, a shrine of Lord Krishna is located.
Gandhvi has a population of around 3000, mostly fishermen. In their petition to the HC, the fishermen had sought direction to the state government to regularise their homes under a 1981 circular of the state government which provides for “gamtal” to fishermen living in huts along the seacoast.

However, after the state government argued that the structures posed a threat to national security and cited two letters from the Additional Director of General of Police (Intelligence), the petitioner submitted in the court that they did not want to press their case of regularisation of their structures.

The HC disposed of the matter after the government assured that the affected families will be rehabilitated according to existing policies of the government, paving the way for the demolition.