3 yrs on, Rohtak residents yet to be rehabilitated

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, December 16

Three years on, residents whose houses, shops were demolished and land taken away for the construction of the country’s first elevated railway track in Rohtak are still running from pillar to post to get land/property or compensation in lieu of their land.

The Haryana Government had assured the affected residents of adequate compensation for their land acquired for the construction of the elevated railway track and an adjacent road.

However, the residents who lost their shops and houses have not been rehabilitated as yet and are still awaiting the grant of compensation or built-up shops promised by the government functionaries.

“Nearly 54 shops and 45 houses were demolished for the construction of the elevated railway track. The residents who owned those houses and shops were assured of due compensation, but they have not received any relief till date and are in dire straits,” says Baldev Miglani, a prominent trader leader of the Gandhi Camp area.

Residents of the Gandhi Camp, the area through which the elevated railway track passes, complain that the inordinate delay in the construction of the road in place of the old railway track has turned the entire stretch beneath the elevated track into a garbage dump.

“The debris (construction waste) of the elevated track is still lying dumped along the old railway line. The residents throw garbage on the debris, which has turned the stretch into a garbage dump. The road which was supposed to be built in place of the old railway track is yet to be constructed,” says Deepak, a resident of Gandhi Camp.

Rohtak MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra maintains that the elevated railway track is ill-planned and the passages provided underneath it should be re-designed as they do not serve any worthwhile purpose.

Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Capt Manoj Kumar asserts that the modalities for the grant of compensation to the affected residents are being worked out and they will be rehabilitated soon.

Rohtak Municipal Commissioner Dr Narhari Singh Banger states that the state authorities are taking up the issue of the construction of a road in place of the old railway track with the Railways, while another road connecting the old railway crossing on Delhi road to Chinyot Colony double crossing will be built soon.