Plots allotted to families hit by Mirchpur violence

Tribune News Service

Hisar, October 15

Nearly a decade after caste violence ravaged their houses, 102 affected Scheduled Caste (SC) families in Mirchpur village were today handed over possession letters of plots for rehabilitation in a newly carved locality specially developed for Mirchpur violence victims.

These families have been living in Tanwar farmhouse owned by social activist Ved Pal Tanwar on the outskirts of Hisar after they fled from Mirchpur fearing more attacks in 2010-11.

What had transpired

• Caste violence occurred in Mirchpur village on April 21, 2010 after a fight between Dalit and Jat youths over the barking of a dog in a Dalit locality.
• A group of dominant caste people allegedly torched over a dozen houses of Dalit families in which a 17-year-old polio-stricken girl Suman and her aged father Tara Chand were charred to death.
• Later, many families moved out of the village and started living in a farmhouse in Hisar.

The state government has earmarked 258 plots for them in the locality which is named Deendayal Puram. The remaining plots will also be allotted to the eligible families after the completion of formalities.

Krishan Bedi, political secretary to the Chief Minister, while handing over the possession letters said that all modern facilities, including roads and community centre, are being set up in the locality and the possession letter holders could construct their houses. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had inaugurated the rehabilitation project on July 7, 2018.

The affected families rejoiced on getting the possession letters. A youth, Somnath, living at Tanwar farmhouse said that all the families were happy that they are finally getting their own homes.

“We had taken shelter at Tanwar farmhouse as we were not feeling safe in Mirchpur after the violence by the accused belonging to Jat families. Most of us are ready to construct our houses and our life will become normal after a decade,” he said, adding that the government has assured to help them in construction of houses by issuing grants under Indira Awas Yojna.

The government has carved out plots measuring 88, 120, 100, 150 square yards as per the formula of the land the respective families owned back in their ancestral village.

The state government will spend Rs 4.56 crore to lay down infrastructure and civic facilities in the proposed township.