Muslims say being targeted in U'khand's anti-squatting drive

HC Told Officials To Evict Encroachers From 4,500 Houses In Haldwani

- Sonali Mishra

Nainital: Families living in around 4,500 houses of Haldwani’s Gafur colony, a predominantly Muslim settlement, are worried as the administration has categorised their homes as encroachments on what has been termed as railways land.

In a meeting between district administration and railway officials on April 4, an action plan to remove the “encroachments” was discussed. An outline of the anti-encroachment drive will be prepared by April 11, after which the eviction will start in phases. Residents of the colony said the railways’ claim to the land is false and accused the “anti-Muslim” incumbent government of using tactics to trouble colony residents. They asked to be rehabilitated if the railway needed the land but not evicted.