Darjeeling district administration imposes Section 144 at Painakumari Busty area.
The Darjeeling district administration has clamped Section 144 of the CrPc at the Painakumari Busty area, near Sukna in Siliguri, under the Kurseong sub-division since yesterday. The move followed tension among the civilian population in the area over a complaint filed with the police by the Indian Army over land ownership rights.
It is learnt that residents of Painakumari Busty are presently disturbed and are losing sleep over the issue since the night of 13 June after they heard that the Army is “planning to evict” them from the land they have been occupying for ‘ages.’
Darjeeling Superintendent of Police AK Chaturvedi, Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, GTA area Sabha member Champa Vibar and some leaders of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) visited Painakumari yesterday to take stock of the situation. Kurseong SDPO, CB Subba, said that on 13 June, Brigadier RS Rawat, the Station Commander of the Trishakti Corps in Sukna near Siliguri, filed a complaint with the police at the Garidhura police outpost, stating that land at the Painakumari area belonging to the Army has been encroached upon by civilians. The officer requested the police to take immediate action.
The locals also lodged a complaint with the police the same night, stating that they have been living in the area since the past several decades, but that Army officers have been “disturbing” them on various aspects.
Army sources at Sukna, however, said people have encroached on the land that belongs to the Army. “But, we have not been forcing people to vacate the land there. All we have been doing is approaching the police and the administration and requesting them to do the needful,” an Army officer said today. A villager meanwhile, said: “We have been paying the dhuri tax and at the same time, all the schemes and systems of the government have been implemented in the village. However, we are being harassed by the Army.”
Para-military forces and police personnel have been deployed in large numbers in the area to avoid any untoward incident. “Patrolling by the police will continue, while Section 144 will be in force there for the next 60 days,” SDPO Mr Subba said. According to the Army sources, people at Painakumari are merely panic-stricken, “as they feel the Army will bulldoze their houses one day”.
“However, we are not doing that. We will go through the proper channels and if the government feels it cannot vacate the Painakumari land where people have settled for years, it should at least provide the Army with an alternative and equal measure of land that is vacant elsewhere,” the sources said.
Talking to reporters yesterday, Mr Sharma, the Kurseong MLA, however, said that the Army does not have proper land rights documents. “I have requested the Darjeeling district magistrate to hold a meeting with all the sides concerned and seek a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.
Mr Sharma further claimed that the Sukna Army station was established in 1964 after the 1962 war with China, but that the people of Painakumari have settled there much before the army arrived.
Source: thestatesman.
The Darjeeling district administration has clamped Section 144 of the CrPc at the Painakumari Busty area, near Sukna in Siliguri, under the Kurseong sub-division since yesterday. The move followed tension among the civilian population in the area over a complaint filed with the police by the Indian Army over land ownership rights.
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| Tension over Sukna land rights |
Darjeeling Superintendent of Police AK Chaturvedi, Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, GTA area Sabha member Champa Vibar and some leaders of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) visited Painakumari yesterday to take stock of the situation. Kurseong SDPO, CB Subba, said that on 13 June, Brigadier RS Rawat, the Station Commander of the Trishakti Corps in Sukna near Siliguri, filed a complaint with the police at the Garidhura police outpost, stating that land at the Painakumari area belonging to the Army has been encroached upon by civilians. The officer requested the police to take immediate action.
The locals also lodged a complaint with the police the same night, stating that they have been living in the area since the past several decades, but that Army officers have been “disturbing” them on various aspects.
Army sources at Sukna, however, said people have encroached on the land that belongs to the Army. “But, we have not been forcing people to vacate the land there. All we have been doing is approaching the police and the administration and requesting them to do the needful,” an Army officer said today. A villager meanwhile, said: “We have been paying the dhuri tax and at the same time, all the schemes and systems of the government have been implemented in the village. However, we are being harassed by the Army.”
Para-military forces and police personnel have been deployed in large numbers in the area to avoid any untoward incident. “Patrolling by the police will continue, while Section 144 will be in force there for the next 60 days,” SDPO Mr Subba said. According to the Army sources, people at Painakumari are merely panic-stricken, “as they feel the Army will bulldoze their houses one day”.
“However, we are not doing that. We will go through the proper channels and if the government feels it cannot vacate the Painakumari land where people have settled for years, it should at least provide the Army with an alternative and equal measure of land that is vacant elsewhere,” the sources said.
Talking to reporters yesterday, Mr Sharma, the Kurseong MLA, however, said that the Army does not have proper land rights documents. “I have requested the Darjeeling district magistrate to hold a meeting with all the sides concerned and seek a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.
Mr Sharma further claimed that the Sukna Army station was established in 1964 after the 1962 war with China, but that the people of Painakumari have settled there much before the army arrived.
Source: thestatesman.
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