Viral Video: The recent activity of expanding Khajuria Road in Siddharth Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh has become the great talk of the town with the aggressive drive of the district administration to clear the public land of illegal encroachments. The drive through administrative officials witnessed most residents clearing the portions of land on their own except for an astonishing incident when the officials found the boundaries of the Tehsil Naugarh and the local police station, Kotwali, which were also sitting on part of public land.
ADM Umashankar Singh Leads Demolition Drive to Clear Roadways
Officially, Khajuria Road is 18 meters wide, according to the civic body’s records. But on the ground, because of rampant encroachment by local residents and establishments, it had shrunk to 8 meters, thus leading to frequent traffic jams and inconvenience. That why Siddharth Nagar Police Station Bulldozer Action was taken. The people were a little reluctant as the parts of the houses, which were to be demolished, were touching the roads.
Because of this never-ending problem, the ADM Umashankar Singh was entrusted with carrying out the removal of the roadways along Khajuria Road. Accompanied by SDM Lalit Kumar Mishra and municipal employees, the team moved upwards in the area and demolished illegal constructions with JCB machines. The situation took an ugly turn when the team reached Siddharthnagar police station and undertook demolishing its boundary wall and main gate, which also proved to be falling on the encroachments on the road.
Police and Administration Clash Over Encroachment Demolition in Siddharth Nagar
It is opposed by the station in-charge, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, supported by CO Arunkant Singh, which led to a heated argument between police and administrative officials. Tripathi asked for a written order to demolish the place, while ADM Singh argued that the order, per se, was implicit in the broader directive to clear all illegal encroachments. The tensed standoff attracted the attention of the local residents who started to gather and showed their solidarity with the administration’s action.
First to fall was the newly constructed tehsil wall, then the boundary wall, and finally the main entrance of the police station. The slogans raised by the crowd during demolition were very loud, depicting the emotional depth of this issue. This incident not only has pointed to problems of urban planning and development but also those associated with the enforcement of laws, even when those relate to government properties.