Minister Jitendra Awhad announced that he will not allow huts beside railway to be demolished.
The Supreme Court order on December 17th stated that railway can initiate action against hut owners, if they do not carry forward with the eviction.
Minister Jitendra Awhad opposes the decision in his tweet made by the Supreme court and says that he will stand by the hut owners and will not allow any of the houses to be demolished.
“I will not allow any house to be demolished. Shelter is the right of poor people and if anyone is going to deprive them of their rights, I will stand with them…A poor man builds a hut because of his need. For him, it is a matter of life and death. You give a notice and throw him out of the house…Railways has issued notices to the hut owners along the tracks. If encroachment on government land has to be removed, 5 lakh people in Mumbai would be on the road. Thousands of people will be homeless in Thane,” said Jitendra Awhad.
“Railways doesn’t have the coverage to rehabilitate slum dwellers. It is a matter of state authorities authorities,” stated officers including that over 70 hectares of the world have encroached within the suburban railway community of MMR. “In all, round 25,000 slum dwellers reportedly keep in these plots,” stated officers.
Responding to the Tweet made by Jitendra Ahwad, senior divisional engineer (Coordination) tweeted, “Railway land has encroached at a number of areas and therefore trip notices have been served as per provisions laid down in The Railways Act, 1989.”
