Eviction drive by Railway in Silchar: 170 families to be homeless, shops, Athletic Club building to be demolished

The Railway Department is soon going to launch a land evacuation drive. The Department has given a maximum notice period of 7 days to those who have forcefully captured the land. Nearly 170 families will have to re-shift.

To evacuate the land the Engineering Branch of the Railways have given a verbal warning for 7 days to these occupants. The Department have also warned that if they don’t vacate the land they will be bound to adopt strict measures and demolish their homes. The Department straightforwardly said, they won’t excuse this time and District Administration will be involved in the evacuation drive.

Even after repeated warnings these families have not obeyed the order. The first warning was in the year 2019 and later in the subsequent years 2020 and 2021. After the latest notice of 7 days time limit, the forceful occupants have become helpless without any place to go. In a personal meeting within the families, they have written a letter to the Indian Railways to extent the time limit for 3 to 4 months, but the Railways has rejected this proposal.

This step was taken to vacate land to modernize the Silchar Railway Station premises and extend its existing operational area. This step was very unexpected for the people living in the land of the Railways.

According to source, the 170 families includes 85 home, shops, club houses and business establishments which is expected to be demolished. This evacuation drive will go on from India Club Point upto Tarapur Bazar.

The majority people living in these plots are businessmen and due to the ongoing pandemic they’re financially not strong to relocate somewhere else. Also many have pending bank loans where they’re unable to pay their installments. This decision of the railway has come like a sudden thunder upon them. The residents are running from post to pole in search of a solution. It’s yet unknown how much area of department will clear up for their development work.

On the other hand, according to the Railways sources, the modernization work will start soon in the Silchar Railway Station along with all the other stations of the country. A three-storey building will also be constructed according to the source, along with resedential quarters. This demand has come up for these purposes only and also because even after repeated notices not an inch of the acquired land was cleared.