Army recaptures land, stirs row

PUNE, March 14: Khadki Station Headquarter's action of taking possession of defence land near Dashamesh Darbar Gurudwara at Yerawada has ...

PUNE, March 14: Khadki Station Headquarter8217;s action of taking possession of defence land near Dashamesh Darbar Gurudwara at Yerawada has stirred the hornets8217; nest. While the army officials filed an FIR at the Yerawada Police Station alleging that some people attempted to encroach upon defence land by erecting temporary fencing, parking vehicles and operating a temporary welding workshop, the local residents countered this by lodging another FIR stating that the army had no right to this land.

On March 10, the army swiftly moved in taking possession of the vacant space in front of the Gurudwara on Plot no 35 and removing the fencing erected by the Gurudwara committee. Administrative Commandant of Station Headquarters, Khadki Lt Col K S Bal said that the attempted encroachment8217; of the fencing had been removed in the presence of the civil police without any dispute. A temporary army camp has been established to avoid any further attempt to encroach the vacant defence land in the future, he said.

The local residents however, begged to differ. Mohinder Singh claimed that the land did not belong to the army. He claimed that Survey No 33A and 33B on which the Gurudwara stood belonged to the local residents. According to him, divisional commissioner Sudhakar Joshi in January 1997 had issued directives to the army officials to vacate Survey no 28, 31, 32/2, 33A,33B, 35/1, 35/2, 28A and 29B at Yerawada stating that lands should be returned back to the original landowners. Accusing the army officials of issuing threats, the residents expressed the fear that the Gurudwara would be demolished by the army. The army officials dismissed this as baseless8217; and bemoaned that the residents were unnecessarily making this a religious issue. Khadki Station Headquarters alleged that Puran Singh and other locals residing in this area had constructed a brick structure and began using this as a Gurudwara.

Although the encroachement was reported to the concerned people, Puran Singh and others filed a case in the district court, The case was finally dismissed in October 13, 1997. A caveat application was filed by the army in December 1997. The army officials also clarified that the structure of the Gurudwara stood on Plot no 35 which was part of Survey no 19 A, 19B and 35 Part and not on Survey no 33B as claimed by the residents.

Lt Col K S Bal stated that the army has the authority to requisition land for its use under Section 36 of the Defence of India Act and accordingly taken Surevy no 19A, 19B, 35 Part, 31,33B, 34 and 35/1 into its possession.