Jharkhand MLA threatens stir over slum demolition notice

Jamshedpur, Aug 24 (PTI) Independent MLA Saryu Roy on Saturday threatened to launch a mass movement in protest against notices allegedly served by Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district administration to demolish 150 houses in the district.

Roy, a former Jharkhand Minister, who recently joined the JD(U), also wondered why the notices were issued reportedly on the directive of the National Green Tribunal when the panel itself did not communicate in this regard.

"We will launch a massive mass movement against the conspiracy of the district administration and whimsical notices to evacuate 150 houses on grounds of the Jharkhand Public Land Encroachment," he said on X.

Describing the move of the administration as "double standards," Roy accused the Congress of asking "thieves to commit burglary while advising the lender to remain alert" ahead of the assembly elections later this year.

Roy said the NGT Kolkata bench had recently quashed the notices issued by the Jamshedpur Circle Officer, ruling that they were not based on the tribunal's directives. This, he argued, indicated that the notices were issued by the state government.

According to Roy, the NGT had refused to hear an intervention petition filed by senior advocate Sanjay Upadhyay of the Supreme Court on behalf of the victims from Indranagar and Kalyannagar, citing that the notices were irrelevant to the tribunal’s purview.

Roy claimed that notices issued by the circle officer were purely a district administration subject.

He also pointed out that neither the chief secretary nor the state pollution control board had filed any relevant affidavits or reports on the matter.

Reacting to Roy's remarks, AICC executive committee member Ajoy Kumar accused senior BJP leader Arjun Munda of filing a complaint with the NGT Delhi Bench on August 30, 2023 urging for the evacuation of 150 houses in Kalyannagar, Indranagar, and Bhuiyandih. The NGT's Delhi bench later transferred the petition to its Kolkata wing.

At a press conference, Kumar, who is also a former JPCC president, criticised Roy for being aware of Munda's complaint but failing to raise the issue in the assembly or address it with the chief secretary.

Kumar accused Roy of misleading both the public and the residents of the affected slums.

Kumar alleged that there was a conspiracy between Munda and Roy to evacuate residents from encroached land to make way for a sewage treatment plant.

The Congress voiced concerns that Munda and Roy might be collaborating with a major corporate entity or a private company to establish the sewage treatment plant near Swarnarekha River. They argued that the river's pollution is due to industrial waste, not the residents of the slums. PTI BS RBT MNB