Of Encroachment and Eviction

For the last few days encroachment and eviction are two terms which we are getting to see almost every day in the newspapers. Thanks to the very unfortunate incident which took place in Mathura where 26 lives were lost for a 'cause' which was everything else apart from being a valid cause.

Few days before that there was a similar incident which took place at Baruipur rail station in West Bengal. There was a hawker, in fact to say correctly illegal hawker, eviction drive organised by the railway officials accompanied by a handful of police personnel. May be the railway officials had not anticipated but they were faced with a massive resistance from hawkers who were helped by many goons from the nearby areas. The bomb making industry displayed its arsenal and there were, as per ToI reports, 14 bombs hurled. And the railway officials were happily thrashed. Unlike in Mathura, fortunately no life was lost in Baruipur.

Now when I think about both these incidents one thing strikes me is that why were the encroachers allowed to sit and occupy public property for such a long time. For the Mathura incident the squatters were allowed into the park to hold a protest meeting for 2 days in 2014 but then they stayed on. No one just bothered to remove them and they had electricity supply up until 2 months back. It was only after a High Court ruling that the authorities started action to get the park freed from the encroachers but then this happened.

Similar goes for the hawker settlement on the premises of any suburban railway station. The hawkers are allowed to initially settle down at their own will. They invest heavily, mostly by borrowing, in their stalls and on product or procurement. Once settled they start doing brisk business which in turn helps them pay back the loans slowly. They start nurturing plans to have a family and dreams of a better living. All this would go one for 3, 4 or 5 years and then one day the station loudspeakers would start broadcasting a notification to vacate the premises. Suddenly the hawkers would see the world around, all their good plans and sweet dreams, come crushing down. And then the resistance would start.

Thus by allowing the hawkers to settle down on the railway premises, the authorities had provided the encroachers with a sort of indirect employment. If the railway authorities had in the first place resisted any attempt on the part of illegal people to settle down or encroach upon public property, the need for any eviction drive may not have arisen. This is not only for the railways but for hundreds of other government properties in India.

Encroachers settling down on government land on either side of highways, railway tracks is very common in India. What the government requires is to secure its assets in the present so any unhappy or unpleasant situation does not arise in the future. Had the hawkers not been allowed to settle on railway property they would have been forced to look for other sources of employment and income but instead they found a easy way to earn.

Another worrying trend which was reported in the news item is that the hawkers had demanded that they be served a legal notice to vacate the premises and would ultimately do so after if they are being allowed to leave the station premises by the CM. First thing this is bad because CM Mamata Banerjee is being raised to a pedestal above the institutions of the state. This is a purely law and order situation and CM should not try to play partisan politics. And second funny part is that how can illegal occupants expect to be served legal notice.

Rather allowing the hawkers continue to roost freely on public property, administration should make arrangements should be made to relocate them to proper. However a state administration with less zeal to work for anything good such measures are least expected. They can find an easy way out by asking the local party leaders, assisted by some goons, to continue fanning the agitation. Mamata Banerje would have taken lesson from the hard way her predecessor Buddhadeb learnt by trying to turn a 25 year old populist policy driven state administration head over heels into a more aggressive capital seeking and industry loving one.

Above I have mostly concentrated on the incident which had taken place in Baruipur. Regarding the incident which had taken place at Mathura the same applies only difference being the cause. It is really hard to fathom the level of ignorance that is still persisting which allow some god-men exploit people's emotions to believe their messiah, Netaji, would come to liberate them. Very hard.....