Protest over razing of shops in Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur, July 23:  A joint team of Tata Steel UISL and JNAC arrived with a bulldozer and razed nine shops operating for about 40 years under the encroachment removal campaign at Bajrang Chowk in Baridih on Wednesday.

 During this action, the shopkeepers protested fiercely, many shopkeepers came in front of the bulldozer, but they were stopped.

This campaign, which lasted for four hours under the supervision of the Administrative Magistrate, started at 12 noon. It is being told that the gate of Tata Manipal Medical College is to be built at the place where these shops were. This is the reason why these shops were removed.

As soon as the bulldozer arrived, chaos broke out in the area. Many shopkeepers say that they could not even take out their goods. Some shops were of stationery, paan, bicycle repair, dhobi and breakfast.

Congress district president Anand Bihari Dubey reached the spot with his supporters and started protesting against the campaign by standing in front of the bulldozer. However, after some time they had to move away and the action started again. JMM and JDU leaders also came in protest, but the encroachment removal campaign continued.

A shopkeeper named Bhola Rajak said that his shop was here for 40 years and he had run the shop by taking a loan from the bank. He says, “Earlier it was said that after the boundary of the medical college is built, the shop will be allowed to be set up again, but now it has been removed forever.”

Bhola and other shopkeepers demand that the administration should give them an alternative place where they can set up their shops again. The shopkeepers said that they will go to the DC office and put forward their point and demand rehabilitation.

To deal with any unpleasant situation, the administration had deployed a large number of police forces on the spot. This encroachment removal campaign was completed amidst tight security arrangements.