Pawan Kalyan to visit victims of demolition drive in Guntur

According to the residents and Tadepalli Municipal Commissioner U Sarita Devi, none of the houses were demolished and instead only the encroached parts were demolished.
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan
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Jana Sena Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chairman leader Nadella Manohar announced that the Party Chief Pawan Kalyan will visit Ippatam Village in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district on Saturday, November 5. In a press conference on Friday, he said that Pawan Kalyan will visit Ippatam village and stand in support of the victims of the demolition drive that took place in Mangalagiri on Friday.   

A tense situation ensued on Friday as officials undertook a demolition drive at Ippatam village in Mangalagiri in Guntur district. While houses on one side of the neighbourhood were being razed down, Janasena Party Leaders rushed to get a high court stay and stalled the drive. The residents were given notice twice in the past six months mentioning that the front elevations of the houses that encroached the roads will be taken down to provide space for the extension of roads and drain canal. 

Opposing the demolition drive, the people of the village lashed out at the government and said that, “The village is too small with no public transport facility. Does anyone know where Ippatam village is? Why does a small village even need a 120 feet road?”. 14 local TDP and Jana Sena leaders were taken into custody as the arguments escalated with the officials. The Jana Sena Party claimed on Twitter that the government is engaging in vendetta politics as retaliation for the locals offering space for its formation ceremony. 

The town planning officer spoke to the media and said that two notices were issued in the months of May and June to the people and markings were also made. "We told the residents that the compound walls and front yards which have encroached the road will be taken down as funds have been sanctioned. Total 53 encroachment structures are to be taken down. 1 house got the stay from court and four people took back the unauthorised construction themselves. And we will take down the remaining structures," the town planning officer said.  

Some of the residents said that only the encroached part was demolished. "Houses have not been demolished. The compound walls and front elevations were razed down. They gave us notices six months back and made the markings. The road is 100 ft but due to encroachments the road narrowed down to 30 feet. There was no need for extension of roads before as the village was part of Panchayat and it is now part of the corporation. Several vehicles are moving every day and night," they said. 

Meanwhile, the Tadepalli Municipal Commissioner U Sarita Devi, on Friday, officially declared that none of the residential homes had been destroyed or relocated as a result of the process. 

The commissioner also stated that "show cause notices were issued to the encroachers pursuant to sections 405, 406, 639 and 640 of APMC Act 1955 for removal of encroachments with reasonable time. When people didn't comply, the government took strict action, removing the encroachments with the help of the police so that they could build a road and a drain" 

 

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