Anger was visible on the faces of owners of houses as they saw trees, greenery and ornamental plants being uprooted. However, they were helpless in front of the MC staff, who removed encroachments from 74 houses today. Residents accused the MC staff of ruining trees, which they had planted in front of their houses. Mandeep Singh Arora, a resident of Sector 19, said it was not encroachment. The land on which they had planted greenery was far away from the road. He wondered why they were only targeting their houses instead of starting a drive in the entire city.
Daljeet Singh, owner of a house in 19-B, said the greenery was removed without any notice. He said he was given no time to remove the plants. Devinder Kumar Sharma, a resident of Sector 19-A, said over 300 small trees were removed by the staff for no reason. Another resident of Sector 19, Yashika Thakur, lamented that when the drive was carried out, no councillor or representatives of FOSWAC and other such associations came to their rescue.
Some residents, employees, bureaucrats and judges, however, started removing encroachments in front of their houses themselves.
Four teams of the MC, comprising over 30 employees, participated in the drive in which five earth-moving machines were pressed into service.
Devinder Singh Babla, Congress councillor, said they respected the court order, but the manner in which the MC staff removed trees and greenery was unwarranted.
An MC official said all trees which were removed would be replanted. He said the charges of removing encroachments would be recovered from the owners of the houses.
Before starting the drive, the MC had conducted a survey to identify encroachments in the sector on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
5 earth-moving machines used
- Four teams of the MC, comprising over 30 employees, participated in the drive in which five earth-moving machines were pressed into service.
- Devinder Singh Babla, Congress councillor, said they respected the court order, but the manner in which the MC staff removed trees and greenery was unwarranted.
- An MC official said all trees which were removed would be replanted. He said the charges of removing encroachments would be recovered from the owners of the houses.
