Power corpn staff confront govt over land allocation

Sunit Dhawan

The state government is in a fix over the rehabilitation of traders of the Gandhi Camp area in Rohtak town whose shops were demolished for the construction of an elevated railway track.

The affected traders have been demanding alternative space/ shops at some other site and the government has decided to allot some land of the state power corporations to them. But employees of the state power corporations are opposing the decision tooth and nail. In fact, representatives of various employees associations of power corporations have formed a joint action committee to get the allotment of land cancelled.

The committee has decided to hold a series of protest demonstrations against the decision to allot the land of the power corporations for the rehabilitation of the affected traders. It says that the power corporations are already facing a shortage of space.   

Local residents and commuters passing through Rohtak town are caught in frequent traffic jams at three railway crossings located in the middle of the town.

The previous Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda had approved a proposal of a railway bypass, thereby taking the railway crossings out of Rohtak town. The process to acquire land for the purpose had also begun.

However, the BJP government scrapped the project and decided to build an elevated railway track, which was touted to be one of a kind in the country. An amount of Rs 315 crore is estimated to be spent on the construction of the 4-km elevated railway track, which Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had launched in March last year.

As the work on the project started, several establishments located in the Gandhi Camp area were demolished. The affected shopkeepers demanded the allotment of land at some alternative site.

Catch-22 situation

The opposition to the allotment of land to the affected traders by the employees’ unions of the state power corporations has put the government authorities in a Catch-22 situation.