Sleepless nights for residents as MC serves eviction orders in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 30

Residents of Mangalpur Colony are spending sleepless nights as the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued eviction orders to 86 households, asking them to vacate around 11 acres by one week or else wait for the civic body to raze their buildings.

As per information, the Mangalpur earlier had a panchayat, but after the inception of the KMC, it was merged in it.

The residents claimed that they had been residing here for the past several years and the panchayat had given them land, while the KMC claimed it to be its land.

Have Appealed against order

We have appealed against the order of the Joint Commissioner in the court of the Karnal Municipal Corporation Commissioner. —Naveen Kumar, Dy mayor, councillor of ward

land given by panchayat

We had been given land by the panchayat and now we have been served an order by the KMC to vacate it, which will make us homeless. —Suresh Pal, A colony resident

Have power, water, property tax bills

We have the electricity, water bills along with property tax bills. My parents were living here and now my children and I are living here. —Prince, A colony resident

The Joint Commissioner (KMC), Gagandeep Singh, passed this ejection order on a complaint filed on the CM Window by namberdar Mukesh Kumar on October 12, 2017. The Joint Commissioner said in his order that the land belonged to the KMC. “With the provisions under Section 408 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act-1994, 86 households have been asked to vacate the land in seven days of the issuance of the order and if they failed to comply within the specified period, we will evict them and take the possession of the land to restore it’s original structure,” said the Joint Commissioner Singh.

Facing an uncertain future following the orders, distressed residents are running from pillar to post due to fear of eviction from their homes. They are in constant fear not knowing what would happen to their houses tomorrow.

“We have been living here for the past several years and the panchayat had given land to us. We have the electricity, water bills along with property tax bills. My parents were living here and now I and my children are living here,” said Prince (46).

Similarly, Suresh Pal (69), a resident of the colony, said they had been given land by the panchayat and now they had been served order by the KMC to vacate it, which would make them homeless.

The residents now appealed against the order of the Joint Commissioner in the KMC Commissioner’s court. “We have appealed against the order in the court of the Commissioner,” said Naveen Kumar, Deputy Mayor who is also councillor of the ward.