SCR demolishes 120 houses built on its lands in Kothagudem

According to the railway officials, the land adjacent to the railway track near Kothagudem railway station measuring around 21.6 acres belongs to the SCR

Kothagudem: South Central Railway (SCR) officials on Tuesday demolished nearly 120 houses built on SCR lands near Kothagudem railway station, engaging huge work force and machinery amid heavy police deployment.

Prior to flattening the houses, police took CPI leaders K Sambasiva Rao, Shaik Sabir Pasha and 78 others of BJP and Congress parties into preventive custody and put TRS leader V Raghavendra Rao under house arrest in order to prevent protests in support of the affected families.

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The CPI state secretariat member B Hemantha Rao, speaking to the media in Khammam, condemned SCR official’s move and wanted alternate shelter to the affected families while Sambasiva Rao wanted Rs 25 lakh compensation to the families along with house sites.

According to the railway officials, the land adjacent to the railway track near Kothagudem railway station measuring around 21.6 acres belongs to the SCR. Notices were served to the residents in 2015 asking them to vacate the houses that were built illegally on SCR land.

But the residents knocked on the doors of the district court two years ago to allow them to live in the same location. The court on July 9 issued orders in favour of the SCR and the authorities told the residents to vacate the houses as they would be pulled down soon.

However, the residents, claiming that they were living in the area for the past four decades, refused to vacate their houses. A few local political leaders also extended support to them.

Meanwhile, former MLA, Jalagam Venkat Rao described the development as unfortunate. In a statement here, he said when he was Kothagudem MLA, he had cautioned the residents not to take SCR notices lightly and not to be misguided by political leaders on the issue.

The residents were offered alternate housing and were also sent to Sathupalli in a bus to visit a model colony developed with government funds when he was the local MLA. But the residents under the influence of local politicians refused to move to other places, he explained.

Venkat Rao urged Kothagudem District Collector and Municipal Commissioner to provide shelter to the displaced residents and look after their needs on humanitarian grounds.

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