Central Railway eviction notices: Won’t allow single house to be demolished, says Awhad

Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad on Thursday reiterated that he will not allow a single house to be demolished by the Central Railway (CR), which had issued eviction notices to people illegally occupying premises alongside railway tracks.

The Supreme Court, on December 17, 2021, had directed the Railways to initiate action against officials for allowing encroachment and not removing the same. Following this, Railway Board Member (Infrastructure) Sanjeev Mittal had ordered all zonal railways to remove encroachers by following eviction proceedings.

“I will not allow any house to be demolished. Shelter is the right of poor people and if anyone is going to deprive them of their rights, I will stand with them…A poor man builds a hut because of his need. For him, it is a matter of life and death. You give a notice and throw him out of the house…Railways has issued notices to the hut owners along the tracks. If encroachment on government land has to be removed, 5 lakh people in Mumbai would be on the road. Thousands of people will be homeless in Thane,” he said.