Digging case: Residents return back to their damaged homes

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Amritsar, June 7

Residents affected due to the unauthorised digging work at the Guru Nanak Colony locality, who had earlier vacated their houses owing to the damage caused to it, came back on Tuesday saying that neither any compensation was provided nor promises met by the authorities.

The system in India doesn’t work without any major damage or causality. If the administration is waiting for any untoward incident, we are ready to become a victim to wake them up from deep slumber. — Simran Singh, An affected resident

Five out of nine families left their homes and took a rented accommodation on the assurance of local politicians and builder of the upcoming hotel two weeks ago. Now, all five families have returned. However, they are putting their lives at risk as major damage has been caused to their homes.

“The system in India doesn’t work without any major damage or causality. If the administration is waiting for any untoward incident, we are ready to become a victim in order to wake them up from deep slumber,” said Simran Singh, a resident.

Everyone from the administration and politicians assured that our houses would be rebuilt and we would get the compensation. They asked us to leave the damaged house. We left, but none kept their promises. We lost everything due the fault of the authorities and builders. Even after one month, the administration failed to fix the responsibility of someone,” Singh said.

Other residents claimed that due to harsh weather conditions, they were unable to stay in rented accommodations.

Now, they have placed beds in the street again. Rain, if expected, or the ongoing removal of debris from the basement may cause further damage to the houses, but residents claimed that they don’t have any other option.

Meanwhile, the inquiry report has been submitted to the Deputy Commissioner by the SDM-II. The Deputy Commissioner would review the report and take action.

Sanjay Kumar, owner of Grand Hotel, which also got damaged during the digging work, said: “We met the Deputy Commissioner regarding the report and action against the guilty officers and builder. The DC will take two more days to review the report.”