Over 1,300 houses razed in Rajkot in drive against illegal settlements

Rajkot (Gujarat), Feb 24 (PTI) More than 1,300 houses have been razed by the civic authorities in Gujarat's Rajkot city as part of a mega demolition drive to clear illegal settlements along the Aji River, officials said on Tuesday.

The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) launched the drive on Monday to remove more than 1,400 illegal settlements in the 2.5-km area of Jangleshwar along the river under tight security.

As of 2 pm on Tuesday, the RMC has demolished around 1,350 houses along the Aji River, civic chief Tushar Sumera told PTI.

The demolition of multi-storey buildings and palatial bungalows is taking time as these can't be torn down using earth-excavating machines, he said.

Apart from more than 65 earth-excavating machines, extra-large hydraulic excavators have been deployed to raze palatial bungalows, he added.

The demolition is being carried out amid tight security, with the deployment of more than 2,500 police personnel, including local police, surveillance teams, drone surveillance units, Special Operations Group personnel, Quick Response Teams (QRT) and State Reserve Police Force. PTI KVM PD ARU