Defence authorities flayed for uprooting villagers

By Our Staff Reporter



NEW DELHI MAY 14. The Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly and Delhi Cantonment MLA, Kiran Chaudhary, today met the Union Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and lodged a strong protest against an alleged move by the defence authorities to uproot hundreds of villagers of East Mehram Nagar, one of the oldest villages, to make way for handing over the land to National Security Guards (NSG).

Ms. Chaudhary, accompanied by local residents of the area, met Mr. Fernandes and sought his intervention in the matter so that the villagers who had been living in the area for the past many decades are not displaced. She pointed out that East Mehram Nagar is one of the oldest villages of the Cantonment area and there was no logic behind uprooting people who had no other place to go to. She said the NSG could be allocated land somewhere else as many areas were lying vacant but this should not be done by punishing the innocent villagers.

Criticising the defence authorities for initiating such a move without going into the merits of the case, Ms. Chaudhary said she would not allow such a thing to happen and threatened to launch an agitation if this move was not stopped. At the same time, she urged the Defence Minister to allocate a large chunk of land lying vacant in Naraina area for building a school so that children of the area could have a better avenue for education. She sought an No-Objection Certificate from the Ministry in order to start the work on the school building.

At the same time, Ms. Chaudhary criticised the move by the Defence Ministry to once again postpone the elections to the 62 Cantonment Boards across the country. She said the elections, which were due in February this year, were postponed to June. But now it is learnt that these elections have once again been postponed to September. The BJP-led Central Government was bent on thwarting the democratic process as it feared that it would be wiped out in the elections whenever they are held.

"I had written to the Defence Minister in February this year pointing to the failure to hold elections on time. But again it has been done which was not acceptable,'' she remarked.

Ms. Chaudhary said the Defence Ministry had assured her that he would take up the matter with his officials and consider the various issues raised by her sympathetically. The delegation also submitted a memorandum to the Defence Minister regarding various other demands including the harassment of the servants living in out houses in the Cantonment area in the name of security.