No anti-encroachment drive in colonies: Minister to Cong

Dehradun, September 19 

Giving a major relief to people from the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Uttarakhand, the state government has announced it will not extend the drive to the colonies and their internal roads.

Speaking in reply to a proposal brought by Congress members in the state Assembly in this regard, state Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said, “We have removed encroachments from government land along main thoroughfares only. We have decided not to take the drive to colonies and their internal roads and alleys.”

The drive is being conducted in compliance with an Uttarakhand High Court order which is even otherwise necessary to decongest the city streets and reduce the traffic pressure on them besides unclogging the drains that lead to waterlogging, Kaushik said.

He also spoke of the state government’s plan to make Dehradun a smart city.

The minister said the state government was sensitive to the problems of people and the ordinance it brought to save the residents of slum colonies from the demolitions being carried out as part of the anti-encroachment drive is a proof of this.

The ordinance will soon become an Act, he said. PTI